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^  In  1990,  Congress  dire< 
acting  through  the  Director  of  the  National  Park  Ser- 
vice to  conduct  a  study  of  alternatives  for  commemo- 
rating and  interpreting  the  Underground  Railroad,  the 
approxunate  routes  taken  by  enslaved  fugitives  escap- 
ing to  freedom  before  the  conclusion  of  the  Civil  War. 
The  Congress  also  directed  the  Secretary  of  the  Interi- 
or acting  through  the  Director  of  the  National  Park 
■^rvice  to  prepare  and  pubUsh  an  interpretive  handfi 

^ok  on  the  Underground  Railroad  in  the  larger  coi? 
text  of  American  Antebellum  society,  including  the 
history  of  slavery  and  abolitionism.  This  handbook  has 
^Sen  prepared  by  the  National  Park  Service  in  fulfill- 
nient  of  our  charge  under  Public  Law  101-628.  It  is  my 
hope  that  the  reading  and  discussion  of  our  shared  past 
iWiU  benefit  all  Americans. 

p^The  Underground  RaSrbadjstory  is  hke  nothing  else 
in  American  history:  a  secret  enterprise  that  today  i^F 
famous,  an  association  many  claim  but  few  can  doci^ 
ment,  an  illegal  activity  now  regarded  as  noble,  a  neU 
work  that  was  neither  underground  nor  a  railroad,  ^_ 
system  that  operated  not  with  force  or  high  finance  but 
through  the  committed  and  often  spontaneous  acts  of 
courage  and  kindness  of  individuals  unknown  to  each 
other.  Perhaps  the  Underground  Railroad  lives  in 
America's  consciousness  because  it  serves  so  many 
myths  and  challenges  so  many  others.  For  all  Ameri- 
cans in  search  of  a  shared  past,  it  proves  that  brutal  sys- 
tems and  brutal  laws  can  be  overturned  from  within.  It 
demonstrates  that  people  can  struggle  and  free  them- 
selves from  bondage  through  individual  and  collective 
acts  of  courage.  It  speaks  of  the  power  of  freedom  and 
justice. 

This  is  an  amazing  story  and  a  timely  one  that  offers 
insight  into  America's  need  to  face  our  collective  histo- 
ry together  and  recreate  our  past  with  each  generation. 
This  handbook  which  draws  together  court  records, 
buildings  letters,  and  memories  and  draws  on  the 
research  of  historians  tells  the  story  anew.  The  Under- 
ground Railroad  has  a  special  place  in  our  nation's  his- 
toric memory.  The  National  Park  Service  is  committed 
to  assuring  that  this  history  will  be  preserved.  We  invite 
your  participation.  ^ 


Robert  Stanton  4 
^'^ctor,  National 


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[yth  and  Reality  7 
'y  Larry  Gara 

TFrom  Bondage  to  Freedom  16 

Slavery  in  America  19 

By  Brenda  E.  Stevenson 

'I 

>The  Underground  Railroad  45 

)y  C.  Peter  Ripley 

the  Past  76 


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aret  (jromef 
•with  slave  catch- 
ers in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where 
she,  her  husband,  and  four  chil- 
dren fwd  fled  from  Kentucky. 
Accounts  and  illustrations 
of  what  happened  vary,  but  in 
1856  Garner  reportedly  killed         i 
one  child  and  wounded  three 
in  an  attempt  to  prevent  their 
recapture.  She  was  sold  back 
into  slavery  in  the  Deep  South, 
where  shejdied-of  typkMiOiamm^^ 


■  ■"^^^^^SsJ'^-f^tetSIS^ 


An  Epic  in  United  States  Fiistory 


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Myth  and  Reality 


By  Larry  Gara 


The  intriguing  ston'  of  the  Underground  Railroad  is 
one  of  America's  great  legends,  a  mix  of  historical  facts 
embroidered  with  m\l:hs.  Traditionally  the  term  refers 
to  a  multitude  of  routes  to  freedom  taken  by  fugitive 
slaves.  Typically  the  story  focuses  primarily  on  aboli- 
tionist operators  and  pictures  fugitives  as  helpless, 
frightened  passengers.  The  stor\'.  told  in  the  context  of  a 
free  North  and  a  slaveholding  South,  often  assumes  that 
only  by  taking  advantage  of  a  well-organized  national 
network  of  aboHtionists  could  slaves  have  succeeded  in 
escaping.  Numerous  accounts  tell  of  daring  rescues, 
ingenious  underground  hiding  places,  and  tunnels  con- 
necting nearby  rivers  to  underground  stations. 

In  fact,  however,  the  North  before  the  Civil  War  was 
not  entirely  free,  either.  By  the  end  of  the  American 
Revolutionar)'  era  all  Northern  states  had  abolished 
slaver}^  or  had  made  provision  to  do  so.  but  fugitive 
slaves  were  always  in  danger  of  being  returned  under 
federal  law  and.  in  some  cases,  even  under  state  law. 
Consequently,  after  Britain  abolished  slaver\'  through- 
out its  colonies  in  1833.  Canada  became  an  important 
destination  for  fugitives  who  feared  recapture  and 
return  to  bondage.  The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1850, 
which  greatly  expanded  federal  powers  to  protect  the 
interests  of  slaveholders,  posed  a  new  threat  to  all  fugi- 
tives in  Northern  states,  and  large  numbers  fled  to 
Canada.  Many  stories  about  the  Underground  Railroad 
grew  from  events  after  passage  of  that  law. 

Ironically,  while  the  1850  law  mandated  Northern 
involvement  in  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves,  it  also  led 
many  Northerners  to  become  moderate  antislavery 
sympathizers.  They  already  resented  the  power  granted 
to  the  South  in  the  US.  Constitution  whereby  slave- 
holding  states  were  allowed  to  count  ever}'  fi\'e  slaves  as 
three  persons  for  purposes  of  Congressional  represen- 
tation and  the  assignment  of  electoral  votes.  It  was  that 
power  rather  than  slaver\'  itself  that  many  Northerners 
resented.  The  new  law  requiring  that  slaves  be  returned 
fueled  anger  and  opposition  to  Southern  demands. 


This  passageway  (enlarged 
since  the  Underground  Rail- 
road era)  at  the  Milton  House 
Inn  in  Milton,  Wisconsin,  is 
locally  believed  to  have  been 
used  by  fugitive  slaves 
Inside  front  coven  A  page 
from  Quaker  Daniel  Osbom  s 
1844  diary  lists  fugitive  slaves 
passing  through  the  Alum 
Creek  Settlement  in  Ohio. 
Pages  4-5:  A  black  couple 
flees  with  their  child  to  the  rela- 
tive safety  of  Union  lines  near 
Manassas,  Virginia,  in  Eastman 
Johnson 's  1862  painting,  A 
Ride  for  Libert\':The  Fugitive 
Slaves. 


Harpers  Ferry,  West  Virginia, 
symbolizes  a  turning  point 
in  the  African- American  strug- 
gle for  freedom.  Here  John 
Brown  and  his  18-man  "army 
of  liberation  "  raided  the  federal 
arsenal  in  an  attempt  to  lead  a 
slave  insurrection  in  the  South. 
Despite  its  failure,  the  raid  gal- 
vanized feelings  in  the  North 
and  South  and  helped  spark 
the  Civil  War,  which  led  to 
emancipation.  During  the  war 
the  town,  then  a  part  of  Vir- 
ginia, changed  hands  eight 
times  as  Union  and  Confeder- 
ate troops  battled  to  control 
this  gateway  to  the  Shenan- 
doah Valley  and  the  South. 


The  mythical  Underground  Railroad  became  best 
known  after  the  Civil  War,  but  it  had  its  roots  in  the 
antebellum  period.  Both  abolitionists  and  defenders  of 
slavery  dealt  in  exaggeration;  it  was  not  a  time  in  which 
individuals  stuck  to  cold  facts.  Abohtionists  boasted  of 
their  aid  to  fugitive  slaves  or  announced  their  willing- 
ness to  give  such  aid.  Fugitive  slaves  like  Frederick 
Douglass  were  effective  spokespersons  for  abolition 
and  often  were  featured  speakers  at  antislavery  gather- 
ings. Stories  like  that  of  Shadrach  Minkins,  a  fugitive 
who  was  rescued  from  jail  in  Boston  and  sent  on  to 
Canada,  got  national  attention  and  helped  generate 
sympathy  for  slaves  who  had  the  courage  and  ingenuity 
to  leave  the  South. 

For  their  part.  Southern  politicians  exaggerated  the 
number  of  escapes  and  blamed  them  all  on  Northern- 
ers interfering  with  Southern  property  rights.  Because 
of  exaggeration  and  the  lack  of  proper  record  keeping, 
numbers  of  escapes  cannot  be  exact.  While  it  is  clear 
that  there  were  more  than  the  thousand  annual  slave 
escapes  listed  in  census  returns,  any  approximate  num- 
ber would  fall  far  short  of  the  total  of  one  million  sug- 
gested by  several  persons. 

Because  few  contemporary  documents  concerning 
the  Underground  Railroad  have  survived,  most  of  the 
sources  are  autobiographical  accounts  written  years 
after  the  events  occurred.  The  abolitionist  memoirs  are 
based  on  recollections  of  members  of  a  much-reviled 
minority  writing  after  they  had  seen  their  cause  tri- 
umph and  their  years  of  loyal  service  vindicated.  While 
they  vary  in  authenticity,  most  tend' to  relate  events 
from  one  point  of  view.  Little  or  nothing  was  written 
about  the  ingenious  and  daring  escape  plans  carried  out 
by  the  fugitives  themselves.  The  exception  was  The 
Underground  Railroad  written  in  1872  by  William  Still, 
an  African  American.  He  published  numerous  docu- 
ments, including  his  own  interviews  with  fugitives  who 
were  going  through  Philadelphia,  and  focused  attention 
on  what  he  referred  to  as  the  "self-emancipated  cham- 
pions" of  his  race. 

In  the  years  after  the  Civil  War,  stories  about  the 
Underground  Railroad  appeared  in  magazines  and 
newspapers.  Many  of  these  accounts  were  based  on  the 
memories  of  aging  abolitionists  and  embellished  by 
reporters.  Through  such  tales  the  Underground  Rail- 
road entered  the  realm  of  American  folklore.  Even 
those  close  to  the  events  had  difficulty  separating  fact 


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from  fiction.  Gary  CoUison's  biography  of  Shadrach 
Minkins  tells  of  conflicting  and  erroneous  rumors  and 
myths  concerning  Shadrach's  brief  stay  in  Concord, 
Massachusetts,  on  his  way  to  Canada. 

In  the  postwar  years  such  terms  as  "passenger"  and 
"conductor"  of  the  Underground  Railroad  received 
wide  circulation.  What  were  only  cellars,  servants'  quar- 
ters, and  storage  rooms  were  assumed  to  have  been 
constructed  for  hiding  fugitive  slaves.  Legendary  mate- 
rial was  repeated  in  stories,  novels,  plays,  and  even  his- 
torical monographs.  In  1898  Professor  Wilbur  H. 
Siebert  published  the  classic  history.  The  Underground 
Railroad  from  Slavery  to  Freedom,  which  he  based  on 
correspondence  with  descendants  and  others  claiming 
knowledge  of  the  institution.  His  collection  is  valuable, 
but  some  stories  he  accepted  could  not  be  verified. 

While  there  were  always  some  individ- 
uals willing  to  provide  food  and  shelter  to 
fleeing  slaves,  the  term  Underground 
Railroad  did  not  come  into  common  use 
until  the  construction  of  actual  railroads 
became  widespread.  In  1844  an  abolition- 
ist newspaper  in  Chicago  published  a  car- 
toon captioned  "The  Liberty  Line"  that 
portrayed  happy  fugitives  in  a  railroad  car 
going  to  Canada  from  the  United  States. 
Passage  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1850 
also  led  to  more  common  use  of  the  term 
and  to  increased  aid  to  fugitive  slaves. 

The  popular  myth  depicts  a  nationwide,  centralized 
underground  operation.  One  novelist  pictures  a  highly 
organized,  smooth-running  operation  with  stations  in 
both  the  North  and  the  South,  all  of  it  masterminded  by 
an  elderly,  invalid  Quaker  woman.  In  truth,  there  was 
some  organized  activity  in  certain  localities,  but  none 
nationwide.  Much  of  the  aid  to  fugitives  was  haphazard. 
One  or  two  incidents  concerning  fugitive  slaves  could 
give  a  community  a  reputation  for  a  thriving  system  of 
aid.  Local  pride  contributed  to  the  popularity  of  the 
myth  as  unverified  family  stories  appeared  in  local  his- 
torical publications. 

Inevitably,  a  good  deal  of  exaggeration  entered  the 
picture.  At  least  four  communities  claimed  to  be  the 
place  where  the  term  Underground  Railroad  originat- 
ed, and  at  least  five  individuals  were  referred  to  in  post- 
war accounts  as  "president"  of  the  Underground 
Railroad.  While  some  abolitionists  had  well-deserved 


The  African  Meeting  House 
in  Boston  dates  to  1806  and  is 
the  oldest  surviving  black       i 
church  in  the  United  States.    ' 
Today  it  is  a  part  of  Boston 
African  American  National 
Historic  Site,  which  includes  15 
pre- Civil  War  structures  linked 
by  a  Black  Heritage  Trail  The 
Mother  Bethel  A.  M.E.  Church, 
shown  below  in  an  1820s  litho- 
graph, was  at  the  center  of  the 
antislavery  movement  in 
Philadelphia. 


11 


Edward  Johnson,  citizen. 
James  Laws,  citizen.  Mary 
Page,  citizen.  Row  upon  row, 
these  simple  gravestones  in 
a  corner  of  Arlington  National 
Cemetery  are  a  tribute  to  what 
it  meant  to  the  disenfranchised 
to  become  citizens.  The  stones 
mark  the  graves  of  blacks  who 
died  fighting  for  the  Union 
army  and  the  graves  of  their 
families  The  cemetery,  in  Vir- 
ginia overlooking  the  Potomac 
River  and  Washington,  D.  C, 
is  ironically  on  the  lands  of 
the  former  estate  of  Confeder- 
ate Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee.  A 
freedman  5  village  was  estab- 
lished on  the  grounds  of  the 
plantation  for  hundreds  of 
former  slaves. 


reputations  for  their  work  with  fugitive  slaves,  many 
individuals  who  had  little  or  no  record  of  such  service 
but  who  had  held  moderate  to  strong  antislavery  views 
were  assumed,  after  the  war,  to  have  been  part  of  the 
Underground  Railroad. 

Legendary  accounts  tend  to  blur  the  many  divisions 
within  the  antislavery  movement.  While  many  Quakers 
supported  Underground  Railroad  activities,  others  op- 
posed what  they  viewed  as  extremist  ideas.  In  the  1840s, 
Free-Soilers  who  favored  only  political  measures  that 
restricted  slavery  to  the  South  had  little  to  do  with  the 
fugitive  slave  issue,  but  after  the  Civil  War  many  were 
associated  with  it  in  Underground  Railroad  stories. 

One  of  the  more  persistent  myths  concerns  tunnels 
or  underground  hiding  places.  One  story,  frequently 
repeated,  described  such  a  tunnel  under  St.  John's  Epis- 
copal Church  in  Cleveland,  Ohio.  The  Western  Reserve 
Historical  Society  conducted  two  separate  investiga- 
tions that  concluded  no  such  tunnels  ever  existed.  In 
1993  Byron  D.  Fruehling  made  on-site  investigations  of 
seventeen  Ohio  houses  reputed  to  have  had  some  kind 
of  subterranean  hiding  places  for  fugitive  slaves.  He 
concluded  that  even  though  some  of  the  buildings  may 
have  housed  escaping  slaves  in  antebellum  years,  the 
fugitives  hid  in  barns,  attics,  or  spare  rooms,  not  in 
underground  hideaways. 

Another  myth  is  that  absolute  secrecy  was  necessary 
in  all  Underground  Railroad  operations.  Abolitionists 
such  as  Levi  Coffin,  William  Still,  and  Thomas  Garrett 
made  no  secret  of  their  work  aiding  fugitives.  Of  these 
three  only  Garrett,  who  lived  in  Delaware,  a  border 
slave  state,  was  arrested  under  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 
Obviously  there  were  times  when  such  activities  had  to 
be  carried  out  in  secret,  but  reputations  of  abolitionists 
generally  were  well  known. 

The  legend  of  the  Underground  Railroad  has  taken 
on  a  life  of  its  own  and  become  a  major  epic  in  Ameri- 
can history.  It  recalls  a  time  when  white  and  black  aboli- 
tionists worked  unselfishly  together  in  the  cause  of 
human  freedom.  Like  all  legends  it  is  oversimplified, 
whereas  historical  reality  is  complex.  Sorting  out  fact 
from  fiction  is  the  everyday  work  of  historians.  In  the 
next  section  of  this  book,  two  historians  summarize 
their  current  conclusions  in  essays  about  slavery  and 
the  Underground  Railroad. 


12 


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JAMES 
LAWS  ' 

CITIZEN 


MARY 
PAGE 


£DWARD 
JOHNSON 


/.\^^^ii^ 


* 


Slavery  Timeline 


1565 

African  slaves 
arrive  on  North 
American  mainland 
at  Spanish  colony 
of  St.  Augustine 


1619 


Africans  arrive  in 
Virginia  on  Dutch  ship; 
slave  trade  intensifies 
in  latter  part  of  1 7th 
century. 


1760s 

Charles  Mason  and 
Jeremiah  Dixon  sur- 
vey Pennsylvania- 
Maryland  boundary; 
in  time,  this  marks  di- 
vision between  slave 
and  free  states. 


Congress  passes  first 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  af- 
firming Constitutional 
rights  of  slaveholders 
to  their  property. 


1770 


Crispus  Attucks  is 
killed  by  British  sol- 
diers in  the  Boston 
Massacre. 


1808 

United  States 
abolishes  trade  in 
slaves  from  Africa. 


1775 


First  abolition  society 
fomns  in  Philadelphia. 


1831 


Nat  Turner  leads  slave 
insurrection  in  Virginia. 


1833 


William  Lloyd  Garrison 
heads  New  England 
Anti-Slavery  Society; 
Margaretta  Forten 
forms  Female  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  in 
Philadelphia;  British 
Parliament  passes 
Emancipation  Act 
freeing  all  slaves  and 
outlawing  the  slave 
trade. 


1830s 


Vigilance  committees 
organize  in  Northern 
cities  to  prevent  re- 
turn of  fugitive  slaves 
to  the  South. 


1839 

Slaves  revolt  on 
Spanish  ship 
Amistad  off  Cuba. 


1845 


Frederick  Douglass's 
first  autobiography 
is  published. 


1850 


Fugitive  Slave  Law 
requires  escapees  be 
returned;  Hamet 
Tubman  begins  help- 
ing slaves  escape  via 
Underground  Railroad. 


14 


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1852 

Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe's  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin  pub- 
lished. 


1854 

Kansas-Nebraska 
Act  allows  territories 
to  choose  to  be  slave 
or  free  states. 


1857 


U.S.  Supreme  Court's 
Dred  Scott  Decision 
rules  that  free  blacks 
and  slaves  are  not 
citizens. 


1859 


Abolitionist  John 
Brown  raids  U.S. 
Armory  at  Harpers 
Ferry. 


1860 


Republican  Abraham 
Lincoln  wins  U.S. 
Presidential  election 
in  November;  South 
Carolina  secedes 
from  Union  in 
December. 


1863 


1861 


Civil  War  begins  as 
Confederates  attack 
Fort  Sumter  in  April; 
Union  declares 
fugitive  slaves  as 
contraband  of  war 
in  May. 


1862 


Congress,  in  March, 
abolishes  slavery  in 
District  of  Columbia 
and  provides  funds 
for  voluntary  coloni- 
zations; in  May  pro- 
hibits slavery  in  terri- 
tories; in  July  the 
Second  Confiscation 
Act  pennits  military 
to  enlist  blacks. 


Lincoln's  Emancipa- 
tion Proclamation 
takes  effect,  abolish- 
ing slavery  in  Con- 
federacy; Union 
intensifies  recruit- 
ment of  blacks  as 
soldiers. 


1865 


Civil  War  ends  in 
April;  Lincoln  assas- 
sinated; Thirteenth 
Amendment  to  U.S. 
Constitution  outlaw- 
ing slavery  ratified  in 
December. 


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From  Bondage  to  Freedom 


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'ataSfflrt*^'^'*  rt  i, ,  ,'.M 


'Slavery  Days  was  Hell... 
It's  bad  to  belong  to  folks  dat 
own  you  soul  and  body...." 


— Delia  Garlic,  former  slave 


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Slavery  in 

By  Brenda  E.  Stevenson 


Slavery,  the  institution  and  the  people  who  were  part  of 
it,  has  had  tremendous  and  long-lasting  influence  on 
American  history  and  the  American  people.  Common 
perceptions  of  the  slaves  and  slaveholders,  shrouded  in 
mythology  almost  from  the  beginning,  have  changed 
dramatically  over  time.  But  lingering  notions  of  South- 
em  difference  and  black  inferiority — both  intimately 
linked  to  slavery — still  remain  along  with  a  host  of 
related  questions  about  race  and  democracy.  To  study 
the  history  of  slavery  in  the  United  States,  therefore,  is 
also  to  explore  some  of  the  fundamental  questions  that 
confront  Americans  of  every  generation. 

Africans  came  with  the  first  Europeans  to  the  Amer- 
icas in  exploratory  and  exploitative  missions  as  seamen, 
pirates,  workers,  and  slaves.  Scholars  have  documented 
the  presence  of  Africans  on  the  expeditions  of  Colum- 
bus to  the  Caribbean,  Cortez  to  Mexico,  Narvaez  in 
Florida,  Cabeza  de  Vaca  in  the  American  Southwest, 
Hawkins  in  Brazil,  Balboa  in  the  Pacific,  Pizarro  in 
Peru,  DeSoto  in  the  North  American  Southeast,  and 
Jesuit  missionaries  in  Canada. 

The  first  Africans  designated  as  slave  laborers 
arrived  in  the  Caribbean  in  1518.  A  century  later,  the 
first  blacks  were  brought  to  Jamestown,  Virginia, 
where,  for  the  next  few  decades,  they  were  given  a  sta- 
tus similar  to  that  of  indentured  servants. 

Initially  Europeans  brought  only  small  numbers  of 
Africans  to  the  New  World.  However,  as  the  need  for 
labor  grew  with  expansions  in  agriculture,  mining,  and 
other  businesses,  so,  too,  did  the  number  of  black  slaves. 
Brazil  and  the  Caribbean  had  the  largest  numbers  of 
imports  and  for  the  longest  span  of  time,  with  Brazil 
and  Cuba  maintaining  importation  until  the  1880s.  Fig- 
ures are  imprecise,  but  over  the  period  Brazil  received 
at  least  4  million  slaves;  the  French  Caribbean,  1.6  mil- 
lion; the  Dutch  Caribbean,  0.5  miUion;  the  English 
Caribbean,  1.8  million;  the  Spanish  Caribbean  and 
mainland  colonies,  1.6  million;  and  those  British  main- 
land colonies,  subsequently  the  United  States,  450,000. 


Gradual  emancipation  in  the 
North  did  not  free  all  slaves. 
This  bill  of  sale  states  that  a 
19-year-old  slave  named  Flora, 
depicted  at  left  in  an  accompa- 
nying cut-paper  silhouette,  was 
sold  for  £25  in  1796  by  Mar- 
garet D  wight  to  Asa  Benjamin 
in  Connecticut.  Flora  died  in 


'  //-. 


•  /j-^/r. 

? 

y  y 

.„•-. 

1815.  As  with  most  slaves,  little 
is  known  about  her  life,  but 
more  than  likely  she  would 
have  agreed  with  Delia  Garlic's 
comment  about  slavery. 
Preceding  pages:  Jerry 
Pinkney's  illustration  evokes 
the  caution  and  watchfulness 
that  accompanied  a  successful 
flight  from  bondage. 


19 


Atlantic  Slave  Trade 


The  slave  trade  across  the  At- 
lantic followed  a  long  history 
of  trade  in  people  and  goods 
between  Europe,  Asia,  and 
Africa.  Rivalries  among  Euro- 
pean powers  in  the  1 500s  and 
1 600s  sparked  rapid  exploit- 
ation of  the  New  World's  min- 
eral and  agricultural  resources 
and  initiated  an  intense  and 
destructive  period  of  bonded 
labor  in  the  Americas.  Africans 
were  traded,  purchased,  or 
captured  to  work  the  gold  and 
silver  mines  of  South  and  Cen- 
tral America  and  the  sugar 
plantations  of  the  Caribbean. 


Under  pressure  from  European 
traders— first  Spanish  and  Por- 
tuguese, later  Dutch,  English, 
and  some  French— the  social 
fabric  and  trade  economy  of 
West  and  Central  Africa 
changed.  Since  Africans  were 
producers  and  frequently  ex- 
porters of  cloth,  omaments,  and 
iron  products,  the  Europeans' 
most  valued  trade  goods  were 
guns,  which  were  then  used  in 
wars  to  acquire  slaves.  Of  the 
approximate  1 0  million  Africans 
shipped  to  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere, only  450,000  were  taken 
to  what  is  now  the  United 


NC 
AME 


SONGHAI 
MOSSI. 


UPPER  A  r  R  ! 

GUINEA 

TEKRUR 
SENEGAMBIA  WOLOF 

cicDDA  W>AL/  HAUSA 

SIERRAMEA/DE^^g^     NUPE 

DYULA         O^O 
«^  GRAIN  DAHOMEY    BENIN 

'  9o^         COAST      ASHANTI      YORUBA 

IVORY    GOLD  -.  .yp         IBO 
COAST  COAST  ^^*^       CAMEROON 

LOWER 
GUINEA 
LUANGO 
' CONGO 
KONGO 

ANGOLA 
NDONGO 


SUDAN 


m 


KIKUYU 
EAST 
AFRICA    zANZIBi 
CENTRAL 
INTERIOR 


ATLANTIC 


OCEAN 


i 


MADAGASCAi 


f 


Tribes  or  nations  labeled  in  BLACK. 
Areas  of  slave  trade  labeled  in  RED. 


20 


states,  primarily  between  the 
late  1600s  and  1808,  when  the 
U.S.  banned  the  importation  of 
slaves  from  Africa.  Captured 
Africans  were  transported  in 
the  holds  of  ships,  such  as  that 
of  the  Brookes  shown  below, 
designed  to  utilize  every  inch 
for  human  cargo.  Up  to  20  per- 
cent did  not  survive  the  Atlantic 
crossing.  In  North  America,  the 
Africans  might  be  sold  individu- 
ally at  any  ship  dock,  but  most 
were  sold  at  the  major  port 
cities  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay 
and,  later,  Charleston,  Savan- 
nah, and  New  Orleans. 


This  early  20th-century  photo- 
graph from  the  Belgian  Congo 
of  the  internal  African  slave 
;^  trade  symbolizes  the  hor- 
rors and  persistence  of 
slavery— a  counterpoint 
to  the  brass  depiction 
of  an  African  king. 


Slavery  in  the  New  World  began  simply  as  one  part 
of  a  long  history  of  international  trade  in  goods  and 
people  both  in  Europe  and  in  Africa.  Slavery  devel- 
oped differently  in  different  colonies,  but  the  institution 
was  recognizable.  Many  civilizations  of  the  past  had 
embraced  forced  labor  and  every  continent,  including 
the  Americas  and  Africa,  had  witnessed  it  prior  to  the 
initiation  of  the  transatlantic  slave  trade  in  the  16th  cen- 
tury. Many  blacks  who  arrived  in  the  New  World,  there- 
fore, were  familiar  with  a  system  of  labor  known  as 
slavery.  In  Africa,  slavery  had  been  practiced  in  Algiers, 
the  Sudan,  the  Hausa  city  states,  Zanzibar,  and  among 
the  Fulani  and  other  ethnic  groups,  including  the  Wolot 
Sherbro  and  Mende,  the  Temme,  Ashanti,  Yoruba,  Kon- 
go, Lozi,  and  Duala. 

Their  familiarity  with  the  institution  in  their  ancestral 
homelands,  however,  did  not  diminish  the  horrors  the 
blacks  were  to  encounter  in  the  Americas.  Slavery  in 
Africa  usually  was  quite  different  from  New  World 
forms.  In  Africa  slaves  usually  were  persons  who  had 
been  captured  in  war,  although  some  were  bom  or  sold 
into  bondage.  Treatment  often  depended  on  the  origin 
of  their  status.  Prisoners  of  war  generally  had  a  harsher 
life.  They  could  be  sold  and  frequently  were.  Women 
often  were  forced  into  concubinage.  Some  were  even 
sacrificed  by  victorious  kings  or  rulers  in  religious  cere- 
monies. Others  were  held  for  many  years,  sometimes 
through  generations,  and  became  part  of  the  clan,  or 
extended  family,  and  were  treated  as  valued  workers. 
Native -bom  slaves,  on  the  other  hand,  customarily  were 
not  sold  and  had  some  important  privileges  such  as  the 
right  to  inherit  property  and  to  marry  free  people. 

Indigenous  African  slavery  seemed  to  be  more  con- 
ducive to  family  stability  and  cohesiveness  than  the 
American  institutions.  Some  West  African  societies,  for 
example,  forbade  interference  in  a  slave's  marriage  and 
allowed  slaves  to  buy  their  freedom  and  the  freedom  of 
family  members.  Others  forbade  masters  from  having 
sexual  relations  with  their  slaves'  wives.  Some  freed 
women  when  they  gave  birth.  They  also  had  greater 
class  mobility  with  some  passing  from  slave  status  to 
become  soldiers  and  artisans. 

Slavery  in  any  society  usually  can  be  explained  bet- 
ter, however,  through  a  discussion  of  the  slave's  restric- 
tions rather  than  his  or  her  privileges.  Most  precolonial 
West  African  slaves  could  not  become  priests,  hold 
important  religious  posts,  or  visit  sacred  places  or  the 


22 


residence  of  the  local  chief.  Some  were  not  allowed  to 
dress  as  free  persons,  or  marry  or  be  buried  near  them. 

Slavery  in  Africa,  as  elsewhere,  was  not  a  static  insti- 
tution. It  changed  drastically  over  time  usually  as  a 
response  to  cultural,  economic,  and  military  factors.  The 
invasions  of  North  African  Arabs  in  the  11th  and  12th 
centuries  and  the  Europeans  from  the  16th  through  the 
19th  centuries  caused  great  escalations  in  the  numbers 
enslaved  and  tremendous  changes  in  the  status  and 
function  of  the  enslaved.  The  desire  and,  eventually,  the 
need  of  West  Africans  to  trade  with  Europeans  for 
weapons  and  other  prized  goods  prompted  some  Af- 
ricans to  get  involved  in  the  slave  trade  to  such  an 
extent  that  they  could  no  longer  draw  on  their  tradi- 
tional reserves  of  slaves. 

The  Atlantic  slave  trade  was  dangerous,  controver- 
sial, and  lucrative  work.  For  Europeans  in  particular 
the  trade  was  extremely  profitable.  It  was  indeed  the 
foundation  on  which  colonial  agriculture  and  ship- 
building and  European  mercantilism  and  industry 
were  built  in  the  17th  and  18th  centuries.  The  slave 
trade  also  brought  profits  to  African  middlemen,  or 
caboceers,  and  the  chiefs  and  rulers  who  traded  their 
gold,  ivory,  dyewoods,  slaves,  and  foodstuffs  for  Euro- 
pean weaponry,  textiles,  liquor,  glass  beads,  and  brass 
rings.  As  greater  demands  from  the  New  World  made 
the  trade  more  lucrative,  more  and  more  slaves  were 
abducted  through  armed  raids. 

African  villages,  however,  did  not  passively  comply 
with  slave  trading  raids;  they  fought  back.  Famed  Ibo 
autobiographer  Olaudah  Equiano  noted  that  the  phe- 
nomenon of  enemies  coming  into  his  village  to  take 
slaves  was  so  prevalent  during  his  childhood  that  often 
the  men  and  the  women  took  weapons  to  the  fields  in 
case  of  a  surprise  attack.  "Even  our  women  are  war- 
riors," Equiano  recalled,  "and  march  boldly  out  to  fight 
along  with  the  men.  Our  whole  district  is  a  kind  of  mili- 
tia." Other  West  Africans  who  had  been  harassed  by 
slave  procurers  went  to  the  source  of  the  problem 
European  traders,  and  attacked  the  company  fortJ 
Would-be  slaves  tried  all  kinds  of  ways  to  escape,  som* 
times  sneaking  away,  getting  help  from  people  passing 
by,  overpowering  the  guard  watching  them,  and  com- 
mitting suicide.  Most  of  them  did  not  escape,  but  th 
did  establish  a  tradition  of  resistance  that  followed  the 
slaves  to  the  Americas. 

Once  they  reached  the  forts  on  the  coast,  slavers 


Masters  and  overseers  pun- 
ished slaves  for  insubordina- 
tion, not  working  hard  enough, 
attempting  to  escape,  inciting 
other  slaves  to  rebel,  and 
countless  other  infractions, 
such  as  dropping  a  glass 
of  water  A  Louisiana  slave 
named  Gordon,  below,  escaped 
to  Union  lines  in  1863,  and 
photographs  of  the  welts  and 
scars  on  his  back  publicized 
the  horrors  and  violence  of  the 
slave  system.  Some  slaves,  espe- 
cially those  who  tried  to  escape, 
were  forced  to  wear  bells,  left, 
on  their  arms,  neck,  or  head. 
Some  were  muzzled.  Owners 
occasionally  branded  their 
slaves  like  cattle.  The  initials 
and  a  heart,  left,  are  one  exam- 
ple of  a  branding  iron. 


'The  first  object  which  saluted  my  eyes 
when  I  arrived  on  the  coast  was  the  sea, 
and  a  slave  ship ....  These  filled  me  with 
astonishment,  which  was  soon  converted 


into  terror." 


— Olaiidah  Eqidano 


placed  them  in  temporary  holding  pens  known  as  bara- 
coons.  The  capture  and  transport  to  baracoons  was  a 
brutal  experience  physically  and  emotionally  for  the 
Africans.  Their  greatest  anxiety  derived  from  their 
fears — of  their  slavers,  the  slave  ships,  and  their  fate. 
Olaudah  Equiano's  response  probably  was  a  typical 
one.  "The  first  object  which  saluted  my  eyes  when  I 
arrived  on  the  coast  was  the  sea,  and  a  slave  ship,  which 
was  as  then  riding  at  anchor  and  waiting  for  its  cargo," 
Equiano  recalled.  ''These  filled  me  with  astonishment, 
which  was  soon  converted  into  terror."  He  had  entered 
a  completely  different  world.  None  of  what  he  had 
experienced,  however,  from  the  time  of  his  capture  to 
his  arrival  on  the  coast  in  a  slave  coffle,  had  prepared 
Equiano  for  the  horrors  of  the  Middle  Passage,  the  trip 
across  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

Equiano  did  not  know  what  to  make  of 
these  strange  people  who  looked,  spoke, 
and  behaved  so  differently  from  himself. 
"I  was  now  persuaded  that  I  had  got  into 
a  world  of  bad  spirits,"  he  recalled,  "and 
that  they  were  going  to  kill  me.  Their 
complexions  too  differing  so  much  from 
ours,  their  long  hair,  and  the  language 
they  spoke,  which  was  very  different  from 
any  I  had  ever  heard,  united  to  confirm 
me  in  this  belief.... [QJuite  overpowered 
with  horror  and  anguish,  I. ..fainted." 

Conditions  aboard  the  slave  ships  dur- 
ing their  voyages  from  Africa  to  America, 
which  could  take  three  weeks  to  three 
months,  often  were  torture.  Segregated  by  gender,  the 
blacks  were  chained  together  and  packed  so  tightly  that 
they  often  were  forced  to  lie  on  their  sides  in  spoon 
fashion.  Clearances  in  ships'  holds  often  were  only  two 
to  four  feet  high.  During  periods  of  good  weather,  the 
slavers  allowed  the  Africans  on  deck  for  sun  and  wash- 
ing. In  bad  weather  or  because  of  some  perceived 
threat,  they  had  to  remain  below,  chained  to  one  anoth- 
er, lying  in  their  own  feces,  urine,  blood,  and  vomit. 
"The  floor  of  the  rooms,"  one  18th-century  ship  observ- 
er wrote,  "was  so  covered  with  blood  and  mucus  which 
had  proceeded  from  them  in  consequence  of  dysentery, 
that  it  resembled  a  slaughter  house."  Both  shipboard 
personnel  and  American  coasthne  observers  reported 
that  sometimes  an  approaching  slave  ship  could  be 
smelled  before  it  could  be  seen. 


Olaudah  Equiano,  left,  was 
kidnapped  from  his  I  bo  tribe 
at  age  11,  enslaved  in  Africa, 
and  passed  from  slave  trader 
to  trader  In  his  autobiography, 
below,  first  published  in  1789, 
Equiano  wrote  of  the  ''brutal 
cruelty  "  he  saw  aboard  a  slave 
ship  and  of  his  years  in  bond- 
age as  a  seaman  between  Vir- 
ginia, England,  and  Barbados. 
He  eventually  bought  his  free- 
dom and  became  an  abolition- 
ist. Facing  an  uncertain  future 
like  Equiano,  young  boys  hud- 
dle together  in  an  illustration, 
lower  left,  from  an  1857  issue  of 
The  Illustrated  London  News. 


I>n'ERESTING    KAllRiTIV 


THE     LIFE 


OI.AUDAH     l^dUIANO. 
GUST.-^yUS  VyISSA, 


ifRirrsi  Br 

iiiMsatr. 

CMI.  C./.. ' 

-y  f"'!.''" 

i\  I.  ,'!--  :•  • 

r...T.o.vl  s.,:;    ,,    ■■, 

25 


More  than  200  attempts  at  on-board  slave  mutinies 
are  documented.  Slaves  also  resisted  through  hunger 
strikes,  violent  outbursts,  refusal  to  cooperate,  and  sui- 
cide. Mortality  rates  varied  greatly:  sometimes  as  low  as 
10  percent,  rarely  as  high  as  100  percent.  Still,  it  is  esti- 
mated that  several  million  Africans  died  before  they 
ever  reached  the  Americas. 

The  first  blacks  to  arrive  in  the  British  colony  of  Vir- 
ginia reportedly  came  in  1619.  The  previous  summer 
the  English  ship  Treasurer  left  Virginia  to  acquire  salt, 
goats,  and  other  provisions.  Shortly  thereafter,  it  came 
into  contact  with  a  Dutch  man-of-war,  and  the  two  ves- 
sels sailed  on  together.  They  "happened  upon"  a  Span- 
ish frigate  carrying  slaves  and  other  cargo.  They  seized 
the  Spanish  vessel  and  divided  the  cargo  between  them. 
Exactly  how  many  Africans  the  Spanish  ship  was  carry- 
ing we  do  not  know,  but  the  Dutch  ship  took  on  100  and 
sailed  back  to  Jamestown  after  becoming  separated 
from  the  Treasurer.  By  the  time  it  arrived  in  Jamestown 
in  August  1619,  there  were  20  Africans  aboard;  the  oth- 
er 80  had  died  at  sea.  The  Treasurer  eventually  reached 
Jamestown,  too,  with  one  African.  The  others — perhaps 
as  many  as  29 — had  been  sold  in  Bermuda.  From  that 
point,  Virginia's  black  population  grew  slowly  but 
steadily;  there  were  300  blacks  in  1649  and  2,000,  or  five 
percent  of  the  population,  by  1671. 

The  first  Africans  in  Virginia,  however,  had  an  uncer- 
tain status.  Slavery  was  not  a  formal,  legalized  institu- 
tion in  the  colony  until  the  1660s,  and  subsequent  laws 
made  slavery  more  inescapable  for  more  Africans  as 
larger  numbers  of  them  began  to  arrive.  The  system's 
increasing  presence  can  be  attributed  to  numerous  con- 
ditions. Most  important,  indentures  did  not  keep  pace 
with  the  growing  needs  for  labor.  Colonial  administra- 
tors also  actively  encouraged  black  slavery,  extending 
in  1635  the  headright  system,  which  rewarded  those 
who  imported  persons  to  the  colonies  with  50  acres  of 
Virginia  land  for  each  person  so  imported,  to  also 
include  those  who  sponsored  the  arrival  of  blacks.  At 
about  the  same  time,  there  was  a  belief  that  blacks, 
unlike  Europeans  or  the  indigenous  peoples,  could 
work  in  the  hot  Southern  sun  and  that  they  had  a  natur- 
al immunity  to  diseases  like  malaria  and  yellow  fever. 
Moreover,  the  rise  of  the  Company  of  Royal  Adventur- 
ers Trading  to  Africa  and  its  later  merger  with  the  Roy- 
al African  Company  guaranteed  mainland  planters 
greater  access  to  slave  imports.  By  the  end  of  the  17th 


26 


century,  therefore,  increasing  numbers  of  slaves  were 
entering  Virginia  and  other  colonies.  Soon  they  were 
even  the  majority  in  many  of  Virginia's  tidewater  and 
Southside  counties  (those  south  of  the  James  River). 
By  1750,  they  numbered  more  than  101,000  in  Virginia 
while  whites  numbered  130,000. 

By  the  1670s,  Africans  lived  in  all  of  the  British  main- 
land colonies.  Slaves  were  mentioned  in  Maryland's 
official  documents  by  1638,  and  the  colony  legally  for- 
malized the  institution  in  1663.  The  Lords  Proprietors 
of  CaroHna,  four  of  whom  were  members  of  the  Royal 
African  Company,  expected  slavery  to  play  an  impor- 
tant role  in  that  colony's  economic  development  and 
guaranteed  its  practice  even  before  settlement.  They, 
too,  offered  economic  inducements  for  slave  importa- 
tion through  the  headright  system.  By  1710,  the  black 
population  of  4,100  in  what  would  become  South  Car- 
olina almost  equaled  that  of  the  whites.  When  the 
colony  separated  in  1729,  South  Carolina  had  10,000 
whites  and  20,000  slaves  while  North  Carolina  had 
30,000  whites  and  6,000  slaves. 

Georgia  was  late  to  embrace  the  institution.  It  legally 
banned  slavery  at  the  colony's  founding,  but,  at  the 
behest  of  settlers  who  saw  slavery  flourishing  in  neigh- 
boring South  Carolina,  Georgia  repealed  the  prohibi- 
tion in  1750.  Advertisements  in  the  colony's  Gazette 
soon  read  like  so  many  others  of  the  era:  "To  be  Sold  on 
Thursday  next,  at  publick  vendue.  Ten  Likely  Gold 
Coast  New  Negroes.  Just  imported  from  the  West 
Indies,  consisting  of  eight  stout  men  and  two  women." 

Blacks  were  slaves  in  the  Dutch  colony  of  New 
Netherlands  long  before  the  British  took  over  the 
colony  in  1664  and  renamed  it  New  York.  Slaves  from 
Angola  and  Brazil  routinely  worked  the  farms  of  the 
Hudson  River  Valley  even  though  the  British  did  not 
legalize  the  institution  until  1684.  By  the  end  of  the  17th 
century,  only  slightly  more  than  2,000  were  in  the 
colony,  but  by  1771  the  20,000  slaves  made  up  nearly  12 
percent  of  New  York  residents. 

New  Jersey  under  the  Swedish  and  Dutch  had  few 
slaves,  but  that  changed  once  the  British  gained  control 
of  the  colony  in  1664  and,  as  in  South  Carolina  and  Vir- 
ginia, offered  land  incentives  for  the  importation  of 
Africans.  By  1745,  New  Jersey  had  4,600  slaves  in  a  total 
population  of  about  61,000. 

Bondage  fell  on  less  fertile  ground  in  Pennsylvania, 
where  Quakers,  for  moral  reasons,  and  artisans,  on  eco- 


27 


^:      Slave  Uprisings 

Slaveholders  constantly 
feared  slave  insurrections.  To 
curb  plots,  Southern  states 
passed  laws  intended  to  intel- 
lectually and  physically  isolate 
slaves  and  instituted  prac- 
tices that  robbed  them  of 
their  dignity.  Despite  dozens 
of  conspiracies,  few  rebellions 
occurred.  Three  events  that 
received  widespread  publicity 
were  Gabriel's  Conspiracy  and 
Nat  Turner's  Revolt,  both  of 
which  led  to  intensified  re- 
strictions, and  the  Amistad 
mutiny.  In  1800,  Gabriel  and 
about  30  other  blacks  con- 
spired to  take  hostages  and 


public  buildings  in  Richmond, 
Virginia,  and  to  negotiate 
freedom  for  the  slaves.  The 
plot  was  betrayed  before  it 
was  implemented.  Testimony 
at  the  trials  of  the  conspira- 
tors persuaded  Virginians  that 
insurrection  was  a  daily  possi- 
bility. But  it  was  not  until  Au- 
gust 22, 1 831 ,  that  Nat  Turner, 
below,  and  five  other  slaves 
initiated  a  rebellion  in  South- 
ampton County,  Virginia.  Turn- 
er's followers  grew  to  about  60 
as  they  traveled  through  the 
countryside  killing  at  least  57 
white  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren. Over  several  days  the 
conspirators,  and  many 


blacks  not  involved,  were  shot 
or  captured.  Turner  eventually 
was  caught  and  executed, 
as  were  1 6  of  his  followers. 
Another  insurrection  involved 
the  Spanish  slave  ship  Ami- 
stad, right,  which  was  off  the 
coast  of  Cuba  in  June  1 839 
when  53  Africans  freed  them- 
selves and,  led  by  Joseph 
Cinque,  far  right,  demanded 
that  they  be  taken  back  to  Af- 
rica. The  crew,  however,  sailed 
the  ship  up  the  U.S.  coast.  The 
mutineers  were  captured  by 
an  American  ship  and  put  on 
trial  in  Connecticut.  The  court 


N^> 


,<^^ 


.^^ 


5^4*^0 


r-^'^'C--^ 


iS:::^: 


^^L'f. 


^^^^ 


^«^l!5! 


in 


^-y.'^~ 


j^^asr 


llK?.i 

I^^s 

^P^^^^ 

I^mI 

been  illegally  captured  and 
sold  and  had  a  right  to  rebel, 
an  opinion  upheld  by  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court, 


nomic  principle,  opposed  any  increases  in  slavery. 
Before  William  Penn  received  his  land  grant,  however, 
the  Dutch  had  imported  African  slaves.  And  there 
always  were  those  who  wanted  slave  labor  as  eagerly  as 
the  Royal  African  Company  wanted  to  sell  slaves.  The 
conflict  was  symbolized  by  the  tax  placed  on  slave 
imports  by  Pennsylvania:  a  duty  of  20  shillings  for  every 
African  imported  in  1700  was  doubled  in  1705.  When 
the  colony's  Assembly  passed  another  law  in  1712  that 
completely  outlawed  the  importation  of  blacks,  the 
Royal  African  Company  persuaded  the  Privy  Council 
in  England  to  nullify  the  law.  By  1750,  Pennsylvania  had 
approximately  11,000  slaves,  most  of  whom  were  living 
in  Philadelphia. 

The  New  England  colonies  imported  fewer  slaves 
than  the  Middle  or  Southern  colonies,  but  African  slav- 
ery also  was  a  part  of  their  economy  and  culture.  By 
1715,  there  were  approximately  2,000  slaves  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  1,500  in  Connecticut.  During  the  early 
1770s,  on  the  eve  of  the  American  Revolution,  Rhode 
Island  boasted  a  slave  population  of  almost  3,800  while 
New  Hampshire  had  only  654  slaves  in  a  total  popula- 
tion of  about  62,000. 

Unlike  voluntary  immigrants,  Africans  did  not  leave 
or  arrive  in  family  groups.  They  also  had  little  opportu- 
nity to  form  family  groups  for  several  years  after  their 
arrival,  because  a  typical  cargo  included  twice  as  many 
males  as  females.  Strangers  in  a  foreign  land,  forced  to 
comprehend  a  new  language  spoken  by  people  who 
looked  and  behaved  so  differently  from  themselves, 
confronted  with  racism,  sexism,  hunger,  epidemics, 
back-breaking  work  quotas,  and  harsh  corporal  punish- 
ment, these  first  few  Africans  spread  thinly  throughout 
the  colonies  undoubtedly  suffered  great  emotional  and 
physical  distress.  Slave  owners  conducted  a  general 
"seasoning"  aimed  at  acclimating  "outlandish"  Africans 
so  they  might  know  their  "place"  and  function  appro- 
priately in  the  system.  Slave  responses  to  this  process 
varied  tremendously.  Even  those  Africans  who  lived 
with  numerous  other  blacks  might  need  anywhere  from 
two  years  for  minimal  "seasoning"  to  four  years  for 
learning  a  functional  Creole  language.  For  many,  it  took 
an  entire  lifetime  or  generations  to  reconcile  their 
African  cultural  heritage  and  perspectives  with  their 
new  lives  as  slaves  in  America. 

Agricultural  labor  was  not  foreign  to  them.  Slaves 
performed  a  number  of  diverse  tasks  from  the  very 


30 


beginning  of  their  presence  on  the  North  American 
mainland,  but  most  were  farm  workers.  Rising  early  in 
the  morning  to  the  sound  of  an  overseer  or  driver  blow- 
ing a  horn  and  working  until  nightfall  for  five  and  one- 
half  to  six  days  a  week,  slaves  planted,  grew,  harvested, 
and  helped  to  ready  crops  for  local,  domestic,  and  inter- 
national markets. 

In  colonial  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  they  raised 
tobacco,  com,  wheat,  and  other  grains,  grew  vegetables, 
and  raised  livestock.  South  Carolina  piedmont  slaves 
produced  tobacco,  com,  and  indigo.  Those  along  the 
coastal  plain  of  that  colony  and  Georgia  used  their  rice- 
growing  skills  they  brought  from  their  native  African 
societies  to  reap  great  fortunes  for  their  owners. 

In  the  Northern  and  Middle  colonies  their  labor  was 
more  diverse  because  of  the  shorter  growing  season. 
They  mostly  worked  on  small  farms,  dairy  farms,  and 
cattle-raising  estates.  They  cultivated  vegetables,  tended 
livestock,  and  served  as  house  slaves.  Others  worked  in 
shipbuilding  and  mercantile  enterprises  and  as  artisans 
of  one  sort  or  another. 

The  development  of  black  slavery  as  an  institution 
and  racism  as  an  underlying  ideology  progressed  with 
little  public  opposition  or  even  debate  until  the  era  of 
the  AJmerican  Revolution.  But  this  opposition,  much  of 
it  disparate  and  disorganized,  did  yield  results  and  did 
change  the  character  of  slavery  by  the  end  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary period.  First,  and  perhaps  most  important, 
slavery  had  become  a  Southem  phenomenon.  Slavery 
was  abolished  or  gradually  eliminated  through  mea- 
sures created  in  1780  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1783  in  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1784  in  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  in 
1785  in  New  York,  and  in  1786  in  New  Jersey.  In  1787, 
Congress  prohibited  slavery  in  the  Northwest  Territory. 
Scores  of  slaves  were  freed  in  the  Upper  South  after 
the  American  Revolution,  and  the  colonization  of 
blacks  in  the  Caribbean  or  West  Africa  was  being  enter- 
tained as  a  viable  "solution"  to  the  problem  of  free 
blacks  in  a  society  that  embraced  black  slavery. 

Slavery  had  changed  with  the  American  Revolution, 
but  dependence  on  slave  agricultural  labor  was  grow- 
ing rapidly  in  the  Southem  states.  The  profitable  culti- 
vation and  ginning  of  short  staple  cotton  made  possible 
by  the  cotton  gin  in  1793,  the  expansion  of  U.S.  territory 
in  the  Lower  South  and  Southwest  and  West,  and  slave 
labor  fueled  an  economic  boom  that  lasted  until  the 
Civil  War.  It  made  an  extremely  small  portion  of  South- 


Slaves  in  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  had  to  wear  tags  that 
identified  their  skill,  such  as 
carpenter  or  mechanic,  and  the 
year  that  the  tag  was  issued. 
After  1848,  free  blacks  in 
Charleston  also  had  to  wear 
tags  declaring  their  status  (see 
page  37). 


31 


5ft-.^-.i.«Vjr  "^ 


5^?^-- 


.*«•( 


'*i^ 


Male  and  female  slaves,  includ- 
ing children,  worked  side  by 
side  in  the  fields  raising  and 
harvesting  such  crops  as  tobac- 
co and  cotton,  as  in  this  paint- 
ing by  Jerry  Pinkney.  Often  one 
black  male  was  singled  out  to 
be  the  driver,  or  leader,  to  make 
sure  the  crew  carried  out  its 
tasks.  He  might  be  given  certain 
privileges,  such  as  a  larger  cabin 
and  finer  clothing  than  the  oth- 
ers received.  Some  slaves,  most- 
ly women,  worked  in  the  mas- 
ter's house  as  cooks,  maids,  or. 


like  the  Louisiana  black  at 
upper  left,  nursemaids  caring 
for  the  young  white  children. 
Although  household  slaves 
worked  under  better  conditions 
than  field  hands,  they  constantly 
were  under  the  watchful  eyes  of 
the  master  and  mistress  and  had 
little  privacy.  Sometimes  field 
hands  were  brought  into  the 
house  or  domestic  workers 
were  sent  to  the  fields.  All 
worked  long,  hard  hours. 


I 


ern  society  extremely  wealthy  and  powerful,  perhaps 
more  so  than  any  other  group  in  the  young  nation. 

Cotton  was  king.  National  production  of  raw  cotton, 
a  major  U.S.  export  to  Europe,  increased  921  percent, 
from  349,000  bales  in  1819  to  3.2  million  in  1855.  This 
explosion  in  production  led  to  an  insatiable  demand  for 
slaves,  particularly  in  the  Deep  South.  Between  1820 
and  1860,  the  number  of  slaves  increased  by  257  per- 
cent, to  nearly  four  million.  At  the  same  time,  the  con- 
centration of  Southern  blacks  was  shifting  dramatically 
from  the  Upper  to  the  Lower  South.  For  instance,  the 
slave  population  of  the  Lower  South  increased  34  per- 
cent from  1850  to  1860  while  in  the  Upper  South  it  rose 
only  9.7  percent. 

The  labor  that  slaves  performed  greatly  influenced 
the  quahty  of  their  lives.  With  few  exceptions,  men  and 
women  generally  did  the  same  kind  of  field  work.  The 
slave  Austin  Steward,  for  example,  noted  that  on  the 
plantation  on  which  he  worked  "it  was  usual  for  men 
and  women  to  work  side  by  side.. .and  in  many  kinds  of 
work,  the  women  were  compelled  to  do  as  much  as  the 
men."  Some  males  did  perform  more  physically  strenu- 
ous work,  and  few  females  held  supervisory  roles,  such 
as  driver,  that  males  routinely  occupied.  Women, 
nonetheless,  usually  worked  longer  hours,  spinning, 
weaving,  nursing,  and  cooking  for  their  owners  once 
their  field  work  was  over,  then  doing  all  their  own  child 
care  and  domestic  chores  in  the  slave  quarters. 

Male  slaves  fared  better  materially  than  their  female 
counterparts.  When  distributing  food  rations,  slavehold- 
ers rarely  gave  females  as  much  meat,  meal,  or  other 
items  as  they  gave  males.  Since  slave  women  usually 
lived  with  their  children  and  had  to  share  some  of  their 
smaller  portion  with  them,  a  mother's  food  allotment 
was  especially  sparse.  Some  fathers  who  lived  away 
from  their  wives  and  children  may  have  put  aside  part 
of  their  food  allowance  for  their  families,  but  owners 
did  not  compel  them  to  do  so.  Similarly,  the  long  pants, 
shirts,  jackets,  and  other  clothing  that  masters  provided 
male  slaves  twice  a  year  were  much  more  appropriate 
for  bending,  stooping,  and  repelling  insects  endemic  to 
field  labor  than  the  skirts  and  dresses  females  had  to 
wear.  Slave  owners  might  have  expected  women  to 
work  as  hard  as  men,  but  they  were  unwiUing  to  pro- 
vide women  with  equal  material  support. 

While  the  vast  majority  of  slaves  worked  in  the  fields, 
up  to  ten  percent  of  them  were  occupied  otherwise.  In 


Slaves,  such  as  these  shown  in 
the  1860s  on  a  South  Carolina 
plantation,  spent  late  evening 
hours  and  Sundays  outside 
their  quarters  tending  to  their 
own  domestic  chores.  They 
held  religious  meetings  and 
dance  parties  often  out  of  sight 
and  hearing  of  whites.  J.  Antro- 
bus's painting  shows  a  burial 
service  in  Louisiana.  Events 
like  these  strengthened  a  sense 
of  community  and  helped  to 
blend  varied  African  traditions 
into  an  African-American  cul- 
ture. One  symbol  of  that  cul- 
ture was  the  mbanza,  below 
right,  made  out  of  a  gourd  and 
animal  skin.  By  the  1800s,  this 
African  musical  instrument 
had  evolved  into  the  American 
banjo  played  by  both  blacks 
and  whites. 


35 


Free  Blacks 


)me  free  perso. 
always  among  the  Africans  in 
North  America.  European  ship 
crews  included  Africans  who 
stayed  on  the  continent,  and 
some  Africans  brought  to 
labor  in  North  America  used 
their  skills  or  the  uncertainty 
of  laws  to  gain  their  freedom. 
Beginning  In  the  1 640s,  the 
legal  net  supporting  lifetime 
Indenture  tightened  and  few 
Africans  could  claim  a  right  to 
freedom  by  the  end  of  the 
1600s.  In  the  1700s,  the  slave 
population  grew  rapidly 
through  importation  and  birth, 
but  the  free  black  population 
grew  through  natural  increase, 


ters,  self- 
purchase,  and  some  success- 
ful escapes.  Free  blacks  mar- 
ried both  slaves  and  other  free 
blacks,  Native  Americans, 
West  Indians,  and  sometimes 
European  servants.  In  1770, 
Crispus  Attucks,  a  longtime 
runaway,  was  killed  by  the 
British  soldiers  during  the 
Boston  Massacre.  During  the 
American  Revolution,  many 
African  Americans  fled  to  the 
British  side  or  joined  the  patri- 
ot cause  in  search  of  freedom. 
Some  who  served  in  the  Con- 
tinental Army  were  freed,  and 
the  doctrines  of  liberty  and 
human  rights,  so  prominent  in 
the  rtietoric  of  the  Revolution, 
caused  the  Northern  states  to 


abolish  the  slave  trade  and 
begin  gradual  emancipation 
while  the  Upper  South  made 
individual  emancipations  easi- 
er. In  these  regions,  the  num- 
ber of  free  blacks  doubled  or 
tripled  or  more  between  the 
adoption  of  the  U.S.  Constitu- 
tion in  1 787  and  the  War  of 
1 81 2.  But  the  prosperity  of 
Lower  South  slaveholders  and 
the  fear  that  free  blacks  would 
undermine  the  rationale  for 
slavery  terminated  emancipa- 
tions in  the  South.  In  the 
1 800s,  free  blacks  increased 
in  number  through  births  and 
self-purchase.  Northem  free 
blacks  tended  to  live  in  cities 


i 


;©«» 


were  greater,  while  Southern 
free  blacks  were  both  rural 
and  urban.  By  1 861 ,  free- 
black  communities  could  be 
found  throughout  the  United 
States.  The  1 860  census  re- 
vealed 3,953,760  slaves  and 
488,070  free  blacks.  The  free 
blacks  Included,  from  left: 
Benjamin  Banneker,  who 
compiled  six  almanacs  and  .: 
helped  survey  the  District  of 
Columbia's  boundaries  in    | 
1 791 ;  Isaac  Jefferson  of  M 
ticello.  who  later  moved  to  , 
Ohio;  Tom  Molineaux,  who 
gained  his  freedom  by  defeat- 
ing other  slaves  at  tx)xing;  ] 
and  an  unknown  woman. 


-^. 


MISSOURI 


KENTUCKY 
TENNESSEE 


ARKANSAS 


MARYLAND         / 
DELAWARE'^ 
VIRGINIA 


NORTH  CAROLINA 

SOUTH 
CAROLINA 


HAMPSHIR 
.     lished  1783 

'^^^raSSa/       MASSACHUSETTS 
mancipatioL  .^^atxtl^ed  1783 

^^9t  ^m  ItAdde  island 

'^  ^^    gradual  emancipation 

^  CONNECTICUT 
gradual  emancipation  1784 

~W  JERSEY 

iual  emancipation  1786 


MISSISSIPPI 


ALABAMA 


TEXAS 


LOUISIAI 


GEORGIA 


FLORIDA 


Slavery  was  permitted  throughout 
the  13  original  colonies.  Between 
1780  and  1786,  some  states  (white 
labels)  either  abolisiied  slavery  or  al- 
lowed for  gradual  emancipation.  By 
1860,  only  1 5  (black  labels)  of  the  33 
states  permitted  slavery.  It  was  not 
permitted  in  the  Northwest  Territory 
(Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Wis- 
consin, and  a  part  of  Minnesota). 
Slavery  was  also  not  allowed  in  Cali- 
fornia and  Oregon.  In  the  other  terri- 
tories the  issue  was  left  to  local 
decision,  a  constant  source  of  politi- 
cal tension  and  national  division. 


urban  settings,  females  worked  as  waitresses,  washer- 
women, midwives,  domestics,  and  in  factory  mainte- 
nance. Male  slaves  had  more  access  to  skilled  positions 
and  exclusively  held  the  more  lucrative  and  prestigious 
jobs  of  blacksmith,  cooper,  painter,  wheelwright,  car- 
penter, tanner,  joiner,  cobbler,  miner,  and  seaman. 

Slaves  began  working  at  about  age  six  or  sometimes 
earlier  if  they  seemed  physically  mature.  Boys  tradi- 
tionally learned  how  to  herd  and  tend  livestock,  pick  up 
trash  and  stones,  gather  moss  and  other  grasses,  and 
carry  water.  Girls  did  similar  tasks  but  also  helped  care 
for  young  children  and  worked  in  the  kitchen.  Both 
boys  and  girls  picked  fruit,  nuts,  and  berries,  pulled 
weeds  and  worms,  and  occasionally  served  as  compan- 
ions for  their  master's  young  children.  Childhood  was  a 
time  when  slaves  began  to  learn  not  only  work  routines 
but  work  discipline  and  related  punishment. 

Slaveholding  women  usually  were  in  charge  of  disci- 
plining slave  children  who  worked  in  and  around  their 
master's  home.  One  ex-slave  interviewed  in  1841  stated 
that  whenever  his  mistress  did  not  like  his  work  she 
would  hit  him  with  tongs  or  a  shovel,  pull  his  hair,  pinch 
his  ears  until  they  bled,  or  order  him  to  sit  in  a  comer 
and  eat  dry  bread  until  he  almost  choked.  George  Jack- 
son recalled  that  his  mistress  scolded  and  beat  him 
when  he  was  pulling  weeds.  "I  pulled  a  cabbage  stead  of 
weed,"  he  confessed.  "She  would  jump  me  and  beat  me. 
I  can  remember  cryin'.  She  told  me  she  had  to  learn  me 
to  be  careful...."  These  kinds  of  "lessons"  hardly  ceased 
as  a  slave  matured. 

Slaves  young  and  old  had  to  complete  their  assigned 
tasks  satisfactorily  to  escape  punishment.  Such  reprisals 
usually  meant  verbal  abuse  for  small  offenses,  but  own- 
ers, overseers,  and  drivers  did  not  hesitate  to  impose 
severe  floggings  and  public  humiliation  or  even  sell 
those  who  did  not  or  would  not  complete  tasks  or  were 
disrespectful  to  authority  figures.  "Beat  women!  Why 
sure  he  beat  women,"  former  slave  Elizabeth  Sparks 
exclaimed.  "Beat  women  jes'  lak  men."  Slaves  were 
stripped  of  their  clothing,  faced  against  a  tree  or  wall, 
tied  down  or  made  to  hang  from  a  beam,  their  legs 
roped  together  with  a  rail  or  board  between  them,  and 
severely  beaten.  The  beatings  provided  owners  and 
overseers  with  a  vehicle  to  both  chastise  and  symboli- 
cally strip  slaves  of  their  personal  pride  and  integrity 
while  invoking  terrifying  images  of  the  master's  power. 

For  slaves,  the  worst  punishment  imaginable  was  to 


38 


be  sold  away  from  one's  family  and  friends.  This  phe- 
nomenon was  tied  more  to  economic  variables  than  the 
owner's  need  to  punish  or  chastise  "troublesome" 
slaves.  Amanda  Edmonds  recalled  the  regret  she  felt 
when  watching  her  family's  slaves  sold  to  pay  off  debts 
after  her  father's  death.  "I  know  servants  are  aggravat- 
ing sometimes  and  [you]  wish  they  were  in  Georgia," 
she  confessed  in  her  diary,  "but  when  I  see  the 
poor.. .and  sometimes  faithful,  ones  torn  away  so,  I  can- 
not help  feeling  for  them." 

The  dramatic  shift  in  slave  concentrations  from  the 
Upper  to  the  Lower  South  and  Southwest  brought  dev- 
astating consequences  in  the  domestic  lives  of  slaves. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  lost  husbands,  wives,  sons, 
daughters,  other  kin.  and  friends  to  this  internal  slave 
trade.  Would-be  slaveholders  regularly  attended  public 
sales  for  slaves  that  usually  were  held  in  a  town  square, 
on  the  front  steps  of  the  local  courthouse  or  sometimes 
at  the  slave  trader's  place  of  business. 

Owners  who  wished  to  sell  slaves  usually  brought 
them  to  town  a  few  days  before  the  auction  and  tem- 
porarily kept  them  in  the  county  jail  as  a  security  pre- 
caution. Prospective  buyers  or  their  representatives 
went  to  the  jail  to  examine  slaves,  who  sat  there  miser- 
ably contemplating  their  fate  and  what  might  happen 
to  family  members  and  friends. 

The  despair  was  tremendous.  One  slave  imprisoned 
in  Bruin's  jail  in  Alexandria,  Virginia,  wrote  a  desperate 
plea  to  her  free  black  mother  who  worked  as  a  laun- 
dress in  New  York  City.  'Aunt  Sally  and  all  of  her  chil- 
dren, and  Aunt  Hagar  and  all  her  children  are  sold,  and 
grandmother  is  almost  crazy,"  Emily  Russell  wrote  in 
January  1850,  and  she,  too,  would  be  sold  if  her  mother 
did  not  soon  raise  enough  money  to  purchase  her.  "O 
mother!  my  dear  mother!  come  now  and  see  your  dis- 
tressed and  heart-broken  daughter  once  more.  Mother! 
my  dear  mother!  do  not  forsake  me,  for  I  feel  desolate! 
Please  to  come  now."  The  young  woman  eventually  was 
sold  to  a  long-distance  slave  trader  for  $1,200,  but  she 
died  on  the  way  to  the  "fancy  girl"  prostitution  market 
in  New  Orleans. 

Unfortunately,  slave  owners  often  benefitted  from 
and  thus  were  willing  to  instigate  or  ignore  the 
tragedies  that  crippled  a  slave  family's  emotional  and 
physical  well-being.  Even  the  sexual  abuse  of  slave 
mothers  and  daughters  often  meant  a  financial  gain  for 
owners,  who  could  claim  as  their  property  the  children 


39 


Posters  in  all  major  U.S.  ports 
announced  the  arrival  of  slave 
ships  and  advertised  auctions. 
Because  of  crowded  and  dirty 
conditions  aboard  ship,  many 
of  the  slaves  were  sickly  and 
weak  when  they  arrived  and 
were  sold.  Auctions  continued 
after  the  end  of  legal  importa- 
tion, and  a  great  fear  of  many 
African  -A  merican  family 
members,  such  as  these  in  Eyre 
Crowe  s  1852-53  painting, 
Slave  Market  in  Richmond, 
Virginia,  was  to  be  separated 
from  each  other 


I INEOROES 

\  !    FOK 

SALE 


A  CaRCO  Ot  ctry  ftouSMcn  and 
Women,  in  good  order  ctkd  fit  for 
immediate  fervict^fast  import* 
from  the  Winduord  Coofi  of  Af- 
rica, in  i|r  Ship  Two  BtOTHtRS 
Con Jifjons  are  one  haff  Cafh  or 
rrodu^-cfthc  other  half  patfoble  the 
firft  of  January  neit,  gicing  Bond 
and  Security  if  required. 


who  might  result  since  slave  children  derived  their  sta- 
tus from  their  mothers.  Likewise,  the  domestic  slave 
trade  broke  up  families  and  extended  kin  networks.  The 
loss  of  spouses  and  family  members  came  to  be  so  great 
in  the  Upper  South  that  many  children  in  the  last  slave 
generations  grew  up  without  the  benefit  of  their  moth- 
ers or  fathers. 

Despite  the  devastating  impact  of  slave  life  on  black 
kinship,  the  family  was  the  slaves'  most  important  sur- 
vival tool.  It  flourished  not  so  much  because  of  its  stabil- 
ity but  its  flexibility.  The  extended  family  of  persons 
related  by  blood,  marriage,  and  long-standing  familial- 
like  contact  was  its  most  persistent  and  essential  charac- 
teristic. When  fathers  disappeared  in  the  domestic  slave 
trade,  uncles  and  grandfathers  often  took  on  a  paternal 
role  for  children  left  behind.  Grandmothers  and  aunts 
nurtured,  fed,  and  socialized  motherless  children. 
Young  adults  cared  for  the  elderly  whose  children  had 
been  sold  away.  Extended  kin  did  not  replace  husbands 
or  wives  lost  forever  to  the  Deep  South  but  did  offer 
some  measure  of  comfort.  Some  slaves  chose  to  remar- 
ry, and  others  were  compelled  by  their  owners  to  find 
another  spouse  to  continue  to  have  children  who  would 
become  slaves. 

Slave  marriages  were  not  recognized  legally,  but  the 
weddings  and  commitments  of  African  Americans  were 
important  events  for  slave  families  and  communities. 
Georgianna  Gibbs  remembered  that  when  the  slaves 
on  her  farm  married  they  had  to  "jump  over  a  broom 
three  times"  before  they  actually  were  considered  mar- 
ried. Some  owners  performed  a  brief  service;  others 
relied  on  slave  or  local  ministers  to  officiate.  A  spirited 
celebration  attended  by  family  and  friends  usually  fol- 
lowed with  music,  food,  and  dancing  that  often  lasted 
most  of  the  night. 

Religion,  dance,  music,  and  food  were  vital  aspects  of 
the  slaves'  cultural  life  and  exhibited  traits  drawn  from 
their  ancestral  past  in  West  Africa  and  their  experiences 
in  America.  While  many  slaves  converted  to  Christiani- 
ty, especially  as  Baptists  and  Methodists,  others  held 
onto  their  Islamic  faith  and  other  religious  rituals  and 
beliefs  derived  from  Africa.  Like  so  much  of  slave  cul- 
ture, the  rehgion  in  the  quarters  often  was  created  from 
both  sources.  African  traditions  appeared  in  their  musi- 
cal instruments,  medicines,  and  domestic  wares,  such  as 
textiles,  baskets,  containers,  and  buttons.  African  slaves 
also  helped  introduce  various  West  African  foods  like 


40 


ll'f 


1  ■•■ 

.1 

1 


fc=^ 


J 


i         >^ 


*/»■■*»*-*;*"  i',''^.. 


Lf.AJ^ 


.-*>■•     -' 


HUfi 

wm4 

i^^' 

..^■^I^M^^             ^^H 

T-T.* 


•7-iy 


millet,  groundnut,  benne,  gourds,  congo  peas,  and  yams 
to  America.  Scholars  have  documented  that  the  slaves' 
reliance  on  their  own  cultural  references  often  allowed 
them  to  control  aspects  of  their  lives  and  withstand  the 
psychological  inhumanity  of  enslavement. 

From  the  perspective  of  the  slave,  however,  life  was 
not  experienced  in  this  scholarly  fashion.  Slave  life 
meant  hard  work,  poor  rations,  sometimes  brutal  beat- 
ings, lost  families,  and  illness.  It  also  meant  marriage  on 
negotiated  terms,  but  marriage  nonetheless,  and  chil- 
dren who  learned  how  to  appreciate  their  kin,  com- 
munities of  friends,  and,  between  hard  times,  laughter, 
pride,  romance,  song,  dance,  and  God. 


In  a  rare  early  photograph  of 
slave  life  in  the  South,  Timothy 
O  'Sullivan  5 1862  image  shows 
five  generations  of  one  slave 
family  on  a  Sea  Island  planta- 
tion near  Beaufort,  South  Car- 
olina, shortly  after  the  Union 
army  had  liberated  the  island. 
Christian  Mayr's  1838  painting 
depicts  a  slave  wedding  at 
White  Sulphur  Springs,  Vir- 
ginia, now  West  Virginia. 


43 


Vl/^r^   c/Wv 


ClS-23-  H13) 


nu-rse 


py 


<X^i^ 


SCdu.' 


The  Underground 
Railroad 


By  C.  Peter  Ripley 


During  the  decades  preceding  the  Civil  War,  when  the 
United  States  struggled  to  define  itself,  no  issue  more 
divided  and  plagued  its  people  than  slavery.  Even 
among  those  who  had  doubts  about  its  morality,  slavery 
was  debated  as  part  of  a  complex  set  of  interlocking 
philosophical,  social,  economic,  and  political  concerns 
too  difficult  to  resolve  and  too  intertwined  with  the  fate 
of  the  nation  to  consider  abolishing. 

Yet  in  the  midst  of  such  moral  confusion  and  political 
failure,  black  Americans,  slave  and  free,  aided  by  white 
allies,  operated  an  illegal  network  determined  to  strike 
at  slavery  by  helping  those  trapped  in  bondage.  Hunted 
by  the  federal  government,  disapproved  of  by  the 
Northern  majority,  and  despised  by  the  slaveholding 
South,  the  Underground  Railroad  served  the  nation  as 
the  exacting  conscience  of  the  most  important  reform 
movement  in  US.  history — purging  the  land  of  slavery. 

The  Underground  Railroad  is  one  of  American  his- 
tory's mysterious  creations.  It  adopted  such  terms  as 
'"conductors,"  "stations,''  "routes,"  "cargoes,"  "pack- 
ages," and  "passengers"  as  suitable  for  its  work  even 
though  it  had  no  literal  association  with  railroading;  and 
"underground"  was  a  fitting,  and  tantalizing,  way  to 
describe  its  activities,  which  were  clandestine  and  ille- 
gal, best  carried  out  away  from  the  bright  light  of  public 
examination.  As  a  formal  term,  it  refers  to  the  move- 
ment of  African- American  slaves  escaping  out  of  the 
South  and  to  the  allies  who  assisted  them  in  their  search 
for  freedom.  Sharing  nothing  more  than  language  and  , 
imagery  with  the  steam  technology  of  the  day,  the 
Underground  Railroad  is  one  of  history's  finest  sym- 
bols of  the  struggle  against  oppression. 

This  movement  of  freedom-seeking  slaves  resists 
precise  characterization  even  though  it  functioned  from 
the  founding  of  the  Republic  through  the  terrible 
bloodletting  of  the  Civil  War.  It  involved  lone  individu- 
als and  entire  communities;  defied  conventions  of  race, 
class,  culture,  and  gender;  devised  bold  methods  of 
escape;  and  was  the  scene  of  great  human  triumphs  and 


Harriet  Tubman  stands  out 
as  the  icon  of  the  Underground 
Railroad.  The  ''Moses  of  her 
people''  was  born  into  slavery 
about  1820  in  Dorchester 
County,  Maryland.  She  was 
named  Araminta  Ross  but  was 
called  Harriet  by  her  owner 
In  danger  of  being  sold  away 
from  her  husband,  John  Tub- 
man, and  her  extended  family, 
she  escaped  alone  in  1848  to 
Philadelphia.  She  returned  to 
Maryland's  Eastern  Shore  area 
about  20  times  and  led  more 
than  300  runaways  to  freedom. 
During  the  Civil  War,  she  re- 
turned to  the  United  States 
from  Saint  Catharines,  Cana- 
da, where  she  had  settled,  and 
served  in  the  Union  Army  as  a 
nurse,  spy,  and  scout.  Tubman 
died  in  1913  at  age  93. 


45 


awful  disappointments.  But  at  its  center  it  embodied 
the  nation's  leading  principle:  the  quest  for  freedom. 

In  its  broadest  definition,  the  Underground  Railroad 
included  every  slave  who  made  the  difficult  and  dan- 
gerous journey  out  of  bondage,  those  thousands  of  men 
and  women  whose  names  are  lost  to  history,  and  those 
fugitive  slaves  such  as  Frederick  Douglass  who  became 
well-known  leaders;  countless  other  slaves  who  offered 
food,  directions,  and  secrecy  to  runaways  on  the  route 
to  freedom;  the  occasional  brave  soul  who  made 
repeated  trips  into  the  South  to  guide  slaves  to  the 
North,  risking  jail  and  perhaps  death;  and  a  secret  net- 
work of  fugitive  slaves,  free  blacks,  and  whites  of  con- 
science who  organized  themselves  to  assist  and  protect 
the  fleeing  slaves.  These  blacks  and  whites  served  as 
"conductors"  for  their  slave  "passengers"  and  "car- 
goes" who  were  given  sanctuary  in  the  homes  and 
farms  and  businesses  that  served  as  "stations"  along  the 
many  escape  "routes." 

The  experience  of  fugitive  slaves  WiUiam  and  Ellen 
Craft  suggests  the  dramatic  mix  of  individual  initiative 
and  organized  assistance  that  often  characterized  the 
operation  of  the  Underground  Railroad.  In  December 
1848,  the  Crafts  waited  at  the  Macon,  Georgia,  train 
station  to  board  the  Savannah-bound  train.  Both  slaves, 
both  illiterate,  owned  by  different  masters,  the  Crafts 
were  poised  to  embark  on  a  resourceful  and  daring 
escape  to  the  North. 

Ellen,  the  daughter  of  her  master  and  one  of  his 
female  slaves,  was  so  light-skinned  she  posed  as  a  frail, 
white  slave  owner.  She  carried  her  arm  in  a  sHng,  cov- 
ered her  lower  face  with  a  poultice,  hid  her  eyes  behind 
dark  green  glasses,  and  wore  a  top  hat  to  certify  her 
assumed  identity  as  a  male.  William  played  the  role  of 
the  attentive  slave  accompanying  the  sickly  master  to 
Philadelphia  in  search  of  medical  treatment.  Traveling 
by  train  to  Savannah,  where  they  stopped  overnight, 
then  by  steamer  and  another  train  to  Baltimore,  the 
Crafts  experienced  anxious  moments  among  curious 
passengers  and  near  discovery  by  railroad  agents. 

But  on  the  Crafts'  Baltimore  train  there  also  was  a 
knowing  free  black  passenger.  Sensing  that  William 
might  be  a  slave  seeking  freedom,  the  free  black  sug- 
gested that  William  contact  a  certain  Quaker  when  he 
arrived  in  Philadelphia,  and  with  that  suggestion  the 
guiding  hand  of  the  Underground  Railroad  touched 
the  Crafts.  Arriving  at  the  Philadelphia  train  station. 


46 


Ellen  clasped  William's  arm  and  said,  "Thank  God  we 
are  safe."  The  two  exhausted  fugitives  then  sought  out 
that  Philadelphia  Quaker,  who  fed,  housed,  comforted, 
and  kept  them  safe  until  it  was  time  to  conduct  them  to 
Boston,  where  the  Crafts  ended  their  1,000-mile  flight 
to  freedom. 

While  the  Crafts'  story  is  documented  as  fact,  the 
Underground  Railroad  is  steeped  in  potent  mythology, 
particularly  the  idea  of  a  steady  stream  of  brave  con- 
ductors leaving  a  free  state  to  make  repeated  trips  into 
the  South  to  guide  slaves  to  freedom.  That  image  is 
strong  and  the  idea  is  grand,  but  such  a  dangerous  oper- 
ation was  not  the  main  work  of  the  Underground  Rail- 
road except  for  such  uncommon  individuals  as  Harriet 
Tubman.  After  escaping  from  Maryland  slavery  in  1848, 
Tubman  made  nearly  20  trips  into  the  South  over  the 
next  decade  to  lead  some  300  slaves  to  freedom.  Tub- 
man's heroic  achievements  earned  her  the  respect  and 
support  of  the  Northern  antislavery  community  and  the 
fury  of  Maryland's  planters,  who  so  feared  her  they 
offered  a  $40,000  reward  for  her  capture. 

The  actual  starting  date  of  the  Underground  Rail- 
road could  be  fairly  set  when  the  first  slave  struck  out 
for  a  free  territory  and  the  first  person  conspired  to 
offer  assistance.  Perhaps  it  was  a  Georgia  slave  fleeing 
south  to  find  protection  among  the  Seminoles  or  in  the 
Spanish  settlements  of  Florida;  or  a  Virginia  slave  who 
left  the  plantation  aided  by  a  local  free  black  or  other 
slaves  who  provided  directions,  food,  a  hiding  place, 
and  best  wishes;  or  a  post-Revolutionary  War  slave  who 
crossed  over  the  border  from  New  York  State  into 
Canada  as  thousands  of  other  blacks  would  do  in  the 
decades  ahead. 

As  early  as  1786  George  Washington  complained 
about  trying  to  capture  one  of  his  fugitives  from  south- 
central  Pennsylvania,  "where  it  is  not  easy  to  appre- 
hend them  because  there  are  a  great  number  [of  people 
there]  who  would  rather  facilitate  their  escape... than 
apprehend  the  runaway."  The  area  along  the  Susque- 
hanna River  had  attracted  a  number  of  former  Virginia 
slaves  who  had  gained  their  freedom  by  legal  measures. 
Over  the  years,  their  numbers  grew,  and  their  commu- 
nity gained  a  reputation  as  a  safe  haven  for  slaves  flee- 
ing the  South. 

The  rights  of  George  Washington  and  his  fellow 
slaveholders  were  recognized  from  the  moment  of  the 
nation's  creation  by  the  U.S.  Constitution,  by  federal 


One  of  the  most  dramatic 
escapes  was  made  by  Ellen 
Craft,  shown  at  left  with 
and  without  her  disguise,  and 
her  husband  William,  below. 
As  they  traveled  from  Georgia 
to  Philadelphia,  she  posed  as 
a  white  male  seeking  medical 
attention,  and  he  played  the 
loyal  servant.  The  Crafts  then 
moved  on  to  Boston;  they  fled 
to  England  after  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  of  1850  was  passed. 
The  couple  returned  to  Geor- 
gia after  the  Civil  War  and  con- 
verted a  plantation  to  a  f reed- 
men  5  school. 


47 


Routes  to  Freedom 


-'  "^^^i- ■ ' 


Runaway  slaves  escaped  to 
the  North  using  a  loose  net- 
work of  routes  through  the 
Southern  border  states. 
Those  traveling  in  the  East 
headed  to  such  places  as 


Boston.  Others  fled  into  Ohio, 
Illinois,  and  Michigan.  Some 
fugitives  continued  on  to 
Canada,  where  slavery  was 
outlawed  and  where  officials 
refused  U.S.  requests  for  their 
return.  Still  others  fled  south 
to  Florida  and  the  Caribbean 
^  or  into  Texas  and  on  to  Mexi- 
^:  CO.  Thomas  Moran's  1862 


painting,  Slave  Hunt,  below, 
shows  slaves  fleeing  through 
a  swampy  area.  Most  fugitives 
traveled  on  foot  at  night  and 
hid  by  day  in  woods  and 
swamps,  along  streams  and 


of  free  blacks  and  abolition- 
ists. Some  used  small  boats, 
hid  in  the  backs  of  wagons,  or 
stowed  away  on  ships.  Others 
devised  unusual  schemes. 
Henry  Brown,  right,  had  a 
shoemaker  build  a  wooden 
box  2  feet  wide,  3  feet  long, 
and  2  feet  8  inches  deep  in 
which  he  had  himself  shipped 
by  rail  from  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, to  Philadelphia.  He 
became  known  as  "Box" 


Brown  on  the  antislavery  lec- 
ture circuit.  In  a  less  publi- 
cized but  equally  daring 
escape,  Lear  Green  had  her- 
self shipped  to  Philadelphia  in 
a  sailor's  chest.  All  fugitives 


hiding  from  slave  catchers  as 
they  moved  from  place  to 
place  not  knowing  what  they 
might  find  for  shelter  and       -., 
nourishment.  But  most  did^  y 
not  publicize  what  they  had****^- 
done,  so  as  not  to  endanger    ' '  "^ 
subsequent  fugitives.  i 


■RAN^WAY  lillU^W.'  1 UJL  SUBSdRIBER^   ON'  THE  NIGHT  0F  THE  27th  OCTOBER, 

\  Negro  Man  named  Ben, 

Calling  himself  BEX.  THOMAS. — On  the  day  he  absromled,  by  means  pf  false  keys,  lie^ppen-" 


-%•'') 


-^% 


•^^:-\K- 


U  N 


m 


■1 

^ 

■'i' 

\^~ 

« 

>r» 

Approximate  route  of  flight 


Free  state 


Slave  state 

Territories  where  slavery 
permitted  by  local  decision 


n  ■  -., 


•  'C-'--± 


M"  *  / 


•  :^ ' 


>■>*->%' 


^  .. 


One  Fugitive's  Story 


James  Lindsey  Smith's  story 
about  his  escape  from  slavery 
illustrates  the  trials  and  tribula- 
tions fugitives  endured  in  their 
convoluted  treks.  On  Sunday, 
May6, 1838,  Smith  left  (1) 
Heathsville,  Virginia,  at  night 
with  two  others,  Lorenzo  and 
Zip.  By  canoe,  they  fled  across 
the  Coan  River,  took  a  small 
boat  and  sailed  to  just  south  of 
(2)  Frenchtown,  Maryland, 
where  they  started  on  foot 
toward  New  Castle,  Delaware. 
Smith  became  exhausted,  but 
Lorenzo  and  Zip  pushed  on 
because  "our  enemies  are  after 
us."  After  resting,  Smith  "took 
fresh  courage  and  pressed... 
onward  towards  the  north  with 
anxious  heart."  Early  Wednes- 
day morning  he  heard  a  great 
rumbling.  "I  shook  from  head 
to  foot  as  the  monster  came 
rushing  on  towards  me."  He 
escaped  up  an  embankment 
from  "the  devil,"  a  train.  Trem- 
bling, hungry,  and  thinking  "the 
patrol lers  were  after  me  on 
horseback,"  he  moved  on  and 
came  upon  a  house  where  he 
asked  a  white  woman  for  food. 
Invited  in,  he  "ate  up  most 
everything  she  put  on  the 
table"  and  paid  her  25  cents. 
He  walked  on  to  (3)  New  Cas- 
tle, where  he  met  up  with 
Lorenzo  and  Zip.  Astonished 
they  had  not  been  captured, 
they  bought  tickets  and  took  a 
steamboat  to  (4)  Philadelphia. 
Leaving  Lorenzo  and  Zip,  who 
were  heading  to  Europe,  Smith 
met  a  black  man  named  Simp- 
son, who  secreted  him  in  a  little 
room  after  Smith  finally  admit- 
ted being  a  fugitive.  Simpson 
met  with  some  abolitionists, 
who  decided  to  send  Smith  to 
Springfield,  Massachusetts.  On 
Friday,  he  left  by  steamboat  for 
(5)  New  York  with  a  letter  to 
abolitionist  David  Ruggles.  "I 
gave  Ruggles  the  letter,  and  we 
had  a  great  time  rejoicing 
together"  On  Monday,  with  let- 
ters for  a  Mr.  Foster  in  Hartford 


and  a  Dr  Osgood  in  Springfield, 
Smith  went  to  buy  a  steamboat 
ticket.  He  had  been  told  the  fare 
was  $2,  but  the  ticket  clerk  now 
said  it  was  $3.  "He  "robbed  me 
of  every  cent  I  had,"  $2.58.  "I 
felt  very  much  depressed....! 
was  out  of  money  and  among 
strangers,"  but  a  waiter  buoyed 
his  spirits  by  giving  him  "an 
excellent  supper."  On  Tuesday, 
he  reached  (6)  Hartford,  found 
Foster,  who  "raised  three  dollars 
for  my  benefit,"  and  headed  by 
steamboat  to  (7)  Springfield. 


MAINE 


VERMONT 


NEW 
YORKl 


NEW 
HAMPSHIRE 


^^      MASSACHUSETTl 
X  >  O  Springfield 

\      RHODE  ISLAND 


C^   ^CONNECTICUT 
Hartford  Q     \Q  Norwich 


VIRGINIA 


Heathsville  O 


I 

^(j^MARYLAND 
Q  Frenchtown 


DELAWARE 


He  located  Osgood,  a  Presby- 
terian minister,  whose  "family 
gathered  around  me  to  listen  to 
my  thrilling  narrative  of  escape." 
Smith  settled  in  the  area,  at- 
tended school,  became  a  shoe- 
maker and  a  preacher,  married, 
and  eventually  settled  in  (8) 
Norwich,  Connecticut.  His  full 
story  appears  in  the  book  Five 
Black  Lives. 


ATLANTIC 


OCEAN 


100  Kilometers 


0  100  Miles 


Travel  by  steamboat 
Travel  by  foot 
Free  state 
Slave  state 


50 


and  state  laws,  and  by  Southern  custom  and  tradition, 
all  of  which  made  service  or  travel  on  the  Underground 
Railroad  dangerous  and  illegal.  The  Constitution  guar- 
anteed property  rights,  including  ownership  of  slaves, 
each  of  whom  the  South  was  able  to  count  as  three- 
fifths  of  a  person  for  the  sake  of  representation  in  Con- 
gress. The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1793  enforced  those 
slaveholding  rights  and  provided  swift  and  simple  pro- 
cedures for  slave  owners  or  their  agents  to  return  into 
bondage  any  black  person  accused  or  even  suspected  of 
being  a  runaway  slave.  The  accused  possessed  no  right 
to  an  attorney  or  to  a  jury  trial,  and  slave  owners  had 
but  to  state  an  oral  claim  of  ownership  to  make  their 
case  before  a  magistrate.  Anyone  assisting  or  interfer- 
ing with  the  arrest  of  a  fugitive  slave  was  subject  to  a 
$500  fine.  Congress's  way  of  acknowledging  the  exis- 
tence and  power  of  the  Underground  Railroad. 

Southern  state  laws  were  even  harsher,  stipulating 
heavier  fines  and  hard-labor  jail  time  for  anyone  con- 
victed of  helping  a  slave  on  the  run.  And  Southerners 
estabUshed  rigid  controls  over  slave  behavior  as  a 
means  of  keeping  them  from  freedom's  trail.  Plantation 
overseers,  slave  patrols,  local  law  officials,  and  slave 
catchers  whose  job  it  was  to  track  and  capture  run- 
aways created  a  restrictive  web  that  made  illicit  slave 
movement  nearly  impossible.  So  complete  was  the  net- 
work that  every  white  person  had  authority  to  stop  any 
black  person  and  demand  to  see  either  a  slave's  travel 
pass  or  a  free  black's  emancipation  papers.  Without 
convincing  documents,  a  black  person  could  be  taken  to 
jail  for  further  investigation.  Southern  whites  tended  to 
assume  that  any  black  person  on  the  move  was  not  on  a 
legitimate  errand. 

Yet  Southern  slave  communities  devised  brave  and 
creative  methods  to  skirt  the  pervasive  controls  that 
kept  them  in  bondage.  The  Crafts'  plan  is  certainly  one 
of  the  best  examples,  but  it  has  rivals,  including  the 
story  of  Henry  Brown.  A  Richmond,  Virginia,  slave 
who  worked  in  a  city  tobacco  factory,  Brown  resolved 
to  escape  after  his  wife  and  three  children  were  sold  to 
a  Methodist  minister  in  North  Carolina.  Brown  had 
himself  sealed  in  a  large  wooden  crate  and  shipped  by 
Adam's  Express  to  Philadelphia  in  1848.  After  a  24- 
hour  rail  trip.  Brown  was  met  by  members  of  the  Gen- 
eral Vigilance  Committee  of  Philadelphia,  the  local 
Underground  Railroad  agency.  Brown,  as  did  the 
Crafts  and  many  other  fugitives,  became  a  leading  fig- 


Sojourner  Truth  was  an  evan- 
gelistic orator  who  preached 
emancipation  and  women 's 
suffrage.  She  was  born  a  slave 
named  Isabella  Baumfree 
about  1 797  in  Hurley,  New 
York.  After  escaping,  she 
gained  fame  suing  for  the  re- 
turn of  a  son  who  had  been 
illegally  sold.  Though  she 
could  neither  read  nor  write, 
she  was  a  compelling  speaker 
at  abolitionist  meetings  as  she 
evoked  the  Bible  and  religious 
principles  She  changed  her 
name  ''because  I  was  to  declare 
truth  unto  people.'^ 


HP^^~w?^^^Bh 

Sfik^^H^^^^H 

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i 

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51 


Frederick  Douglass  fled  from 
slavery  in  Maryland  in  1838 
and  settled  in  New  Bedford, 
Massachusetts  Using  his  elo- 
quent oratorical  and  journalis- 
tic skills,  he  became  the  most 
famous  19th  century  black 
abolitionist  Among  his  many 
accomplishments,  he  lectured 
for  the  Massachusetts  Anti- 
Slavery  Society,  published  an 
autobiography,  crusaded  in 
Britain  against  slavery,  and 
produced  a  newspaper,  the 
North  Star,  later  titled  Freder- 
ick Douglass"  Newspaper.  By 
his  own  account,  he  helped  sev- 
eral dozen  fugitives  to  freedom 
through  his  home  in  Rochester 
Douglass  opposed  efforts  pro- 
moting manumission  tied  to 
emigration  and  argued  for 
immediate  abolition  of  slavery. 
During  the  Civil  War,  he  cam- 
paigned for  the  rights  of  blacks 
to  enlist  in  the  Union  Army 
and  at  times  was  consulted 
about  racial  issues  by  Presi- 
dent Abraham  Lincoln.  After 
the  war  he  held  several  govern- 
ment posts,  including  U.S.  min- 
ister to  Haiti,  1889-91. 


ure  on  the  antislavery  lecture  circuit  in  the  northern 
United  States  and  in  the  British  Isles.  Brown's  Rich- 
mond accomplice,  Samuel  A.  Smith,  a  white  shoemaker 
who  had  nailed  shut  the  crate  and  shipped  the  fugitive, 
was  found  out  and  served  seven  years  in  prison. 

But  for  the  majority  of  runaways,  courage  and  deter- 
mination rather  than  dramatic  creativity  were  their 
methods  and  means.  Some  stowed  away  on  ships,  river- 
boats,  and  trains,  but  most  walked  the  South's  roads  at 
night  and  hid  in  caves,  swamps,  and  woods  during  the 
day.  They  avoided  any  human  contact  for  fear  of 
betrayal,  and,  yes,  they  followed  the  legendary  North 
Star.  Many  slaves  made  their  way  alone,  too  fearful  to 
trust  any  stranger,  black  or  white,  slave  or  freebom.  But 
thousands  of  others  were  assisted  by  fellow  slaves  who 
offered  hiding  places,  food,  clothes,  and  safe  directions. 
The  Underground  Railroad  was  a  dangerous  place 
of  hunger,  bad  weather,  illness,  fear  of  discovery  or 
betrayal,  the  threat  of  patrols,  slave  catchers,  and 
"Negro  dogs"  trained  to  hunt  down  runaways.  The  sur- 
viving documentation  about  being  a  fugitive  slave  in 
the  South  tells  harrowing  stories,  some  of  triumph  and 
freedom,  others  of  capture  and  punishment,  including 
branding,  whipping,  sometimes  even  crippling  and 
death.  The  runaway  slave's  decision  to  abandon  family 
and  the  familiar  to  strike  out  for  freedom  was  brave 
and  reckless.  Most  slaves  chose  not  to  go,  refusing  to 
leave  wives  and  children,  husbands  and  parents,  or  fear- 
ing the  consequences  if  they  were  caught. 

For  the  Deep  South  slave  starting  out  from  Louisi- 
ana, Mississippi,  Alabama,  Rorida,  Georgia,  or  South 
Carolina  the  trek  was  long,  which  diminished  the 
chances  of  success.  The  distance  separating  slavery  and 
freedom  was  too  great.  But  for  those  thousands  of 
slaves  who  made  their  way  to  the  Upper  South,  or 
escaped  from  there,  the  likelihood  of  finding  freedom 
increased  dramatically.  Freedom  was  just  across  the  line 
from  Virginia,  Maryland,  Delaware,  and  Kentucky.  In 
the  Upper  South,  in  the  adjoining  free  states,  and  in  the 
North's  major  cities,  a  more  organized  Underground 
Railroad  network  was  active  and  attentive,  ready  to 
receive  a  passenger  passed  on  by  a  fellow  conductor 
and  on  the  watch  for  telltale  signs  of  an  exhausted  fugi- 
tive needing  help. 

History  has  kept  as  one  of  its  mysteries  the  number 
of  African  Americans  who  made  the  journey.  Estimates 
of  the  number  of  runaways  range  as  high  as  100,000 


52 


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only  true  remedy  for  the 


rajiiijnrrtnli] 


Frederick  Douglass 


PROSPECTUS 

1-OR    AN    ANTI-SLAVERV    rAl'El?.    TO    I5K    ENTITLED 

FREDERICK    DOUGLASS 

Proposes  to  pul>li»h,  in  Kpcuiisri.ii,  N.  V.,  a  "WEEKLY  ANTI-SIaAVERT 
PAPER,    "irti  tli(;  above  title. 

TIh!  olijcct  of  the  NORTH  STAR  will  be  to  attack  Suvkhv  in  all  its  Ibrms  and 
aspects;  advocate  rMvrns\L  Kma.xcipatio.x  ;  exalt  tlie  standard  of  Piiiuc  Moralitv  ;  pro- 
mole  tlic  .Moral  ami  Intellectual  Iiuproveinent  of  the  COLORED  PKOPLE ;  and  hasten 
the  day  of  FRKEDO.M   to  the  Three   .Millions  of  our   Kn^lvvid   t'Ei.i.ovv   Coij.ntkvmen. 

The  Paper  will  be  printed  upon  a  double  niediuui  sheet,  at  $2,00  per  annum,  if  paid 
in   advance,  or   .S-,"'*',  if  payment  be  delayed  over  .-.ix  months. 

The  namcj*  of  Sulwcribors  nay  bo  sent  to  ihe  following  named  per^ous,  and  should  Im' 
forwarded,    as   far   a-*   practicable,    by   the    first   of  N'ovember,    proximo. 


PRBDCRICK    IIO0GLA88.  Lynn.  I^*»*- 

SAMUEL    BBOOKB.  Salsm.  Ohio. 

M     n     DELAWY,  Pitubuigh.  P.. 

VALGirrlNE    NICH0L30N.  Hsrtrey>bar(h.  Wama  Co   O 

Mr    WALCOTT    21  CotnhUl.  Boston 


■luiii^Ml'    S^M,., 


JOIL  P,   DAVIS.  Economy.  Wayne  Coouty,  Ind. 
CHRISTIAJ*    DONALDSON.  ClnciimaU,  Ohio. 
J.  K   MKIM,  Philadaliibla,  Pa 
AMARANCY    PAIKE.  Providauce.  R  I. 
Mr    OA7,  li2  Naasau  Btroat  Now  Yock. 


These  portraits  show  members 
of  a  Philadelphia  vigilance 
committee  in  the  1850s.  In  the 
top  row,  left  to  right:  J.  Miller 
McKimm,  Nathanial  W.  Depee, 
and  an  unidentified  man.  Sec- 
ond row:  an  unidentified  man, 
and  Robert  Purvis.  Bottom 
row:  Jacob  White  Jr,  Passmore 
Williamson,  and  William  Still. 
As  indicated  in  a  portion  of  the 
title  page,  William  Still's  classic 
book,  The  Underground  Rail- 
road, recounted  stories  he  col- 
lected by  and  about  fugitive 
slaves  The  book  originally  was 
published  in  1872  in  Philadel- 
phia. Still  was  a  noted  conduc- 
tor on  the  Underground  Rail- 
road. 


prior  to  the  Civil  War.  Many  slaves  who  started  out 
returned  to  their  plantations,  were  captured,  or  other- 
wise failed  to  make  it  to  free  territory.  Other  estimates 
have  1,000  to  2,000  per  year  reaching  freedom  during 
the  late  antebellum  years.  Firm  numbers  require  hard 
documentation,  but  most  fugitive  slaves  were  illiterate, 
left  few  records,  and  found  few  people  interested  in 
preserving  their  story. 

In  the  Deep  South,  runaways  relied  upon  free  blacks 
and  slaves  willing  to  help  fugitives  they  encountered. 
Escape  routes  and  stations  crisscrossed  much  of  the 
Midwest  and  Northeast,  although  they  shifted  over 
time  as  danger  of  discovery  or  changes  in  leadership 
demanded.  Two  major  routes  extended  from  Kentucky 
and  Virginia  across  Ohio  to  the  North  and  from  Mary- 
land through  Pennsylvania  into  New  York  or  New  Eng- 
land to  Canada.  There  is  substantial  evidence  of  a 
long-running  system  of  stations  moving  slaves  through 
sparsely  populated  lUinois  and  Iowa  into  Canada. 

This  network  of  routes  and  stations  grew  out  of  a 
number  of  conditions — geography,  personality,  politics, 
religion,  community  values,  and  historical  circum- 
stances. Ohio  developed  one  of  the  most  impressive 
systems  of  stations  in  no  small  measure  because  of  its 
location.  It  bordered  Kentucky  with  more  than  150 
miles  of  river  frontage  and  western  Virginia  with  anoth- 
er 200  miles,  making  freedom  only  a  river's  width  away 
for  the  Kentucky  or  Virginia  slave  or  the  Deep  South 
slave  who  reached  either  state.  The  Ohio  network 
evolved  during  the  1820s  and  1830s  when  local  blacks, 
many  of  them  former  slaves  who  had  settled  in  Ohio 
towns  and  cities,  began  to  conduct  raids  into  Kentucky 
to  liberate  slaves  and  systematically  aided  others  who 
came  their  way. 

For  15  years  John  P.  Parker  was  a  conductor  in  the 
energetic  riverboat  town  of  Ripley,  a  main  station  in  the 
Ohio  network  across  from  Kentucky.  A  former  slave 
and  an  ironworker,  he  was  among  the  few  men  in  his 
community  who,  in  his  words,  "made  themselves  poor 
serving  the  helpless  fugitive."  Parker's  town  was  the  set- 
ting of  constant  tension — a  "real  warfare"  he  described 
it — between  those  who  sought  to  rescue  slaves  and 
those  who  patrolled  nightly  in  hopes  of  catching  fugi- 
tives for  the  reward  offered  by  their  masters.  In  most 
instances,  Parker  and  his  network  assisted  runaways 
who  had  made  the  river  crossing  by  themselves,  but 
during  many  suspense-filled  nights,  Parker  belted  on 


54 


♦-■  '^p?^ 


UNDERGROUND  RAIL  ROAD 


A   BECOBD 


^ACTS.     ^OTHBNTIC   J<ARRATIVB«,    LbTTBRS,    Ac. 

Namtiis  th«  Hardships  Hair-breadtli  beapcs  ud  Dnth  Stra;^ 
SlsTcs  !■  tkelr  efforts  for  FreedoB 


Abolitionism 


Abolitionism  had  different 
meanings  at  different  times  for 
different  groups.  The  Pennsyl- 
vania Abolition  Society  and 
the  Virginia  Abolition  Society 
were  formed  in  the  1 780s  to 
abolish  slavery  gradually 
through  legislative  action  and 
through  manumission.  William 
Lloyd  Gan-ison  was  a  gradual- 
ist, but  black  friends  soon 
persuaded  him  to  advocate  im- 
mediate and  uncompensated 
emancipation  in  his  newspa- 
per, The  Liberator.  Immedi- 
atism  became  the  new  goal 
of  abolitionism.  The  New  Eng- 
land Anti-Slavery  Society  was 


formed  in  1832,  and  within  five 
years  it  had  several  hundred 
chapters.  Garrison  and  his 
allies,  including  three  blacks, 
then  formed  the  American  Anti- 
Slavery  Society,  which  had 
associate  interracial  female 
societies  in  Philadelphia  and 
Boston.  By  1838,  this  group 
had  almost  250,000  members. 
The  Society  split  into  factions 
at  its  1 840  convention  in 
Syracuse,  New  York,  when  a 
woman  was  elected  to  a  com- 
mittee. Garrison's  group  be- 
came increasingly  radical  and 
considered  dissolving  the 
Union  as  the  only  way  to  force 


emancipation.  Religiously  mo- 
tivated abolitionists  constituted 
a  larger  group  and  were  orga- 
nized into  the  American  and 
Foreign  Anti-Slavery  Society 
from  1 840  to  the  mid-1 850s. 
Gerrit  Smith's  political  aboli- 
tionists in  New  York  argued 
that  the  U.S.  Constitution  pro- 
hibited slavery  and  that  the 
Federal  Government  had  the 
power  to  abolish  it.  Most  politi- 
cal abolitionists  joined  the  new 
Republican  Party  in  1854. 
Some  abolitionists,  such  as  the 
Oberlin,  Ohio,  group  shown 
below,  rescued  slaves  who 
were  about  to  be  returned  to 


J 


■    WITH 

SLXVEH0L3ER* 


-:^^ 


^^ 


their  masters.  Black  abolition- 
ists often  felt  they  were  kept  on 
the  margins  of  the  movement 
and  increasingly  had  their  own 
meetings  and  read  newspapers 
published  by  African  Ameri- 
cans. Abolitionism,  despite  its 
fragmentation,  helped  bring 
the  nation  to  civil  war. 

Attending  an  1845  antislavery 
meeting  in  Cazenovia,  New 
York,  are  Frederick  Douglass, 
to  his  left  Theodosia  Gilbert, 
and  behind  him  Gerrit  Smith. 


In  disputes  over  slavery  in  the 
Kansas  territory  in  the  1850s, 
John  Brown  gained  a  reputation 
as  an  ardent  abolitionist  and 
believer  in  violence  to  pursue 
goals  He  is  best  known  for  his 
October  16, 1859,  raid  on  the 
federal  armory  and  arsenal  at 
Harpers  Ferry.  Brown's  follow- 
ers, included  five  free  blacks, 
among  them  Dangerfield  New- 
byfrom  Virginia  and  Osborne 
Anderson  from  Chatham, 
Canada  West.  They  hoped  to 
seize  a  supply  of  weapons  and 
spark  a  rebellion  of  the  slaves 
But  federal  troops  under  Col. 
Robert  E.  Lee  stormed  the 
enginehouse,  right,  and  captured 
Brown  and  most  of  the  raiders 
He  was  foimd  guilty  of  treason 
against  Virginia  and  hanged 
December  2.  Southern  whites 
saw  Brown  as  a  violent  fanatic. 
Northern  abolitionists  hailed 
him  as  a  martyr  In  a  few  years 
Union  troops  were  singing 
''John  Brown 's  body  lies 
a-moldering  in  the  grave,  but 
his  soul  goes  marching  on. " 
The  song  originally  referred  to 
another  John  Brown  but  later 
became  associated  with  the 
abolitionist. 


two  pistols  and  a  knife,  took  his  boat  into  Kentucky,  and 
brought  out  fugitives  who  were  stranded  just  short  of 
freedom's  territory.  Parker  reported  that  he  assisted 
315  slaves  during  the  first  five  years  he  was  involved  in 
the  Ohio  Underground  Railroad. 

During  the  1830s  and  continuing  late  into  the  next 
decade,  Washington,  D.C.,  operated  one  of  the  most 
aggressive  networks  because  of  its  location  and  its  art- 
ful leadership.  Thousands  of  slaves  from  plantations  in 
bordering  Virginia  and  Maryland  were  helped  to  free- 
dom by  Washington  blacks,  many  of  whom  masked 
their  illegal  activities  behind  trusted  positions  in  white 
society.  They  included  ministers,  businessmen,  and  a 
porter  in  the  U.S.  Supreme  Court.  Thomas  Tilly,  a 
coachman  for  a  federal  marshal,  held  religious  services 
for  slaves  on  neighboring  Virginia  plantations  and  used 
those  occasions  to  organize  escapes.  Jacob  R.  Gibbs,  a 
printer,  maintained  a  file  of  "free  papers"  from 
deceased  local  blacks,  which  he  gave  to  runaways  to 
ensure  their  safe  passage  through  white  society.  He  aid- 
ed as  many  as  2,000  fugitives. 

Leonard  A.  Grimes,  who  worked  as  a  cabdriver,  used 
carriages  and  horses  in  his  efforts.  During  one  trip  into 
Virginia,  Grimes  was  captured  liberating  a  slave 
woman  and  her  seven  children,  a  crime  for  which  he 
served  two  years  in  a  Richmond  prison,  only  to  rejoin 
the  underground  after  his  release.  On  one  occasion, 
members  of  the  Washington  network  rescued  several 
fugitive  slaves  who  had  been  captured  and  placed  in 
slave  pens  until  their  masters  could  claim  them.  This 
eastern  network  was  briefly  crippled  during  the  late 
1840s  by  urban  race  riots  and  by  slaveholders'  attempts 
to  crush  the  network  that  forced  important  members  of 
the  Washington  group  to  flee  the  area. 

Individual  personalities  shaped  the  character  of 
some  sections  of  the  underground.  Among  the  thou- 
sands of  free-state  agents  were  community  leaders  and 
work-a-day  citizens — black  and  white,  slave  and  free- 
bom,  men  and  women — committed  to  striking  a  blow 
at  slavery.  Fugitives  who  made  their  way  from  Philadel- 
phia into  Canada  via  the  Albany,  New  York,  route 
sometimes  found  themselves  under  the  protective  care 
of  luminary  black  abolitionists  and  longtime  agents: 
William  Still  in  Philadelphia,  David  Ruggles  in  New 
York  City,  Stephen  Meyers  in  Albany,  J.W.  Loguen  in 
Syracuse,  Frederick  Douglass  in  Rochester,  and  Hiram 
Wilson  in   Saint  Catharines,  Upper  Canada.  Some 


mornings  Douglass  arrived  at  his  Rochester  newspaper 
office  to  find  fugitives  on  the  doorstep.  The  runaways 
were  routinely  hidden,  fed,  clothed,  allowed  to  rest,  and 
cared  for  in  the  home  of  a  local  agent  before  moving  on 
to  the  next  station,  sometimes  by  foot,  sometimes  by 
train,  sometimes  hidden  in  a  wagon  traveling  by  night. 
Appropriately  enough,  Douglass's  antislavery  newspa- 
per was  named  the  North  Star. 

Some  Underground  Railroad  stations  possessed 
such  forceful  membership  and  moral  authority  that  the 
network  became  a  defining  characteristic  of  the  com- 
munity. Those  stations  usually  resulted  from  a  number 
of  influences  coming  together,  including  a  sizable  fugi- 
tive slave  and  free  black  population  and  an  active 
Quaker  fellowship,  or  some  mix  of  race,  church  mem- 
bership, family  ties,  and  a  strongly-held  sense  of  the 
injustice  of  slavery.  Oberlin,  Ohio,  was  one  such  com- 
munity, its  reputation  further  enhanced  by  the  robust 
abolitionist  tradition  of  Oberlin  College. 

In  one  instance,  slave  catchers  accompanied  by  a  U.S. 
deputy  marshal  arrived  in  Oberlin  to  capture  fugitive 
slave  John  Price.  When  residents  learned  of  the  plan, 
the  Underground  Railroad  went  on  alert.  Almost  40 
local  residents  formed  a  rescue  party — father  and  son, 
carpenter  and  farmer,  cabinetmaker  and  cobbler, 
undertaker  and  brickmaker,  student  and  professor,  gro- 
cer and  lawyer,  black  and  white — sped  to  a  nearby 
town  and  rescued  Price  from  his  captors.  Thirty-seven 
were  indicted  for  their  roles  in  the  rescue,  twenty  spent 
time  in  jail  awaiting  trial,  and  two  were  tried  and  con- 
victed. Yet  this  experience  failed  to  cripple  the  Oberlin 
network. 

The  best  organized  and  most  aggressive  stations 
operated  in  Northern  cities.  These  major  hubs  devel- 
oped into  a  tight  network  that  passed  fugitives  from 
city  to  city.  Often  known  as  vigilance  committees,  they 
were  well-led,  well-staffed,  well-funded,  and  served  as 
the  runaways'  friend  and  the  conscience  of  the  black 
community.  They  evolved  during  the  1830s  out  of  cruel 
circumstances.  As  unprecedented  numbers  of  fugitives 
began  to  settle  in  Northern  cities,  the  kidnapping  of 
fugitive  slaves  and  free  blacks  by  slave  catchers,  who 
sold  their  prey  into  slavery,  became  commonplace.  The 
black  community  organized  to  protect  itself  and  fleeing 
slaves. 

The  New  York  Committee  of  Vigilance,  founded  in 
1835  and  led  by  David  Ruggles,  relentlessly  aided  and 


59 


■■*'     ■      'S.i 


>^M. 


■^J 


■'  i     ^^ 


V.     . 


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^^i.^^ 


«¥ 


•^^- 


.■^•"' 


defended  escaped  slaves.  White  abolitionists  provided 
important  assistance,  but  blacks  directed  the  committee 
and  raised  most  of  its  operating  funds.  The  New  York 
station  disseminated  information  about  kidnappers  and 
slave  catchers;  dispensed  food,  clothing,  money,  medi- 
cine, legal  services,  and  temporary  shelter  to  fugitives; 
and  resettled  them  in  the  North  or  provided  safe  pas- 
sage to  Canada.  It  compiled  the  Slaveholders  Directory 
to  make  public  the  names  and  addresses  of  poHce, 
judges,  and  other  New  York  City  officials  who  cooper- 
ated with  kidnapping  rings  or  aided  in  the  capture  of 
fugitives.  The  committee  kept  a  particularly  close  watch 
on  the  city's  harbor  facilities,  where  Ruggles  and  his 
companions  more  than  once  risked  their  lives  by 
boarding  ships  they  suspected  were  concealing  kid- 
napped victims  or  illegally  transporting  slaves  into  the 
United  States. 

Blacks — many  of  them  fugitive  slaves — also  orga- 
nized vigilance  associations  in  Philadelphia,  Boston, 
Detroit,  and  other  Northern  cities.  Philadelphia,  a  city 
with  large  Quaker  and  black  populations,  was  home  to 
perhaps  the  most  active  Underground  Railroad  station. 
It  directed  some  9,000  runaways  between  1830  and 
1860  to  contacts  along  well-established  and  well-main- 
tained routes.  WilHam  Still,  a  freebom  black,  was  one  of 
its  legendary  leaders.  As  a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Anti-Slavery  Society  and  then  as  director  of  the  Gener- 
al Vigilance  Committee  of  Philadelphia,  he  managed 
the  committee's  finances,  which  funded  Harriet  Tub- 
man's raids.  He  established  a  network  of  safe  houses, 
maintained  contacts  along  routes  from  the  Upper 
South  to  Canada,  and  channeled  runaways  to  conduc- 
tors in  Pennsylvania  and  New  York. 

Fugitive  slaves,  black  sailors,  stevedores,  teamsters, 
and  other  black  workers  served  as  the  muscle  and 
backbone  of  the  committee  by  sheltering  and  trans- 
porting fugitives  and  by  gathering  and  relaying  crucial 
information.  One  Underground  Railroad  member  de- 
scribed them  as  ''men  of  overalls. .  .who  could  do  heavy 
work  in  the  hour  of  difficulty." 

Vigilance  committee  membership  brought  working- 
class  blacks  into  closer  contact  with  more  elite  black 
abolitionists,  who  provided  money  and  organizational 
experience.  Black  women  kept  a  watchful  eye  out  for 
suspicious  whites  they  observed  in  hotels,  in  boarding- 
houses,  and  on  the  streets.  Black  congregations  shel- 
tered fugitives  and  opened  their  buildings  to  committee 


Quakers  Levi  and  Catherine 
Coffin  welcome  runaway 
slaves  arriving  at  their  home 
outside  Cincinnati  (where 
they  had  moved  in  1846)  in 
this  detail  from  Charles  T.  Web- 
ber's influential  painting,  The 
Underground  Railroad.  The 
Coffins  had  moved  to  Indiana 
in  1826  from  North  Carolina, 
where  several  members  of  the 
Coffin  family  were  involved  in 
helping  fugitive  slaves.  In  Indi- 
ana, they  took  in  many  groups 
of  2  to  17  fugitives  and  assisted 
them  on  their  way  northward. 
Levi  Coffin,  among  others, 
became  known  as  ''president" 
of  the  Underground  Railroad. 
Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  based 
her  fictional  characters  Simeon 
and  Rachel  Halliday  in  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin  on  Levi  and 
Catherine  Coffin. 


61 


CAUTION !  I 

COLOREFiPEOPLE 

OF  BOSTON,  ONK  k  Mh 

Ycu  arr  hrreli)  rfspffiHill)  lAI TIONED  aod 
adusril.  lo  atoid  cuD>fr>ine  Hiih  (be 

Viiiirliiiuii  ami  Mm  (lllicers 
of  llosloii. 

Fur  «inr<'  tli<    r<  r<  iit  OI(l>i:K  OK  THK  ^AVOR  &. 


il.ilKK^II.'N.  Ill 


irr  «-nip<n» mil  lo  act  a» 


KII>\APPER8 

AND 

Slave  Catchers, 

4n<l  llii't  h:itr  i)lmi<1«  Im-i-ii  nrluullv  riaploied  la 
KIIO  tl'I'IM..  «  tTilUX;.  AM>  KKEFIXS 
M.i\  l>.  I'lH-DfoD-.  U'lou  >:ilu«-  >oiir  I.IRCKTV, 
itnd  Ihf  %%'rljarr  of  thr  I  Hnilireii  nuiuoe  >ou,  XAmh 
Cbrni  ill  tirrt  po««i>iU'  in;inii<  r.  ii>  >o  ni:in>  ttOlWltS 
on  lli<-  Ir.irl.  <>rihr  iiiii«l  i:iiriirliiii:ili' of  tour  racr. 

k(><'|»  a  Sharp  liook  Out   for 
kll)\  VI»IM:KS.  aiHi    have 

'roi»  i:^  KoiM'ii. 


meetings;  church-affiliated  auxiharies,  often  directed  by 
black  women,  raised  the  bulk  of  committee  operating 
funds;  and  black  benevolent  societies  collected  food 
and  clothing  for  destitute  fugitives.  Hundreds  of  New 
York  City  blacks  attended  the  committee's  public 
meetings  to  listen  to  activity  reports  and  to  celebrate 
dramatic  stories  of  fugitive  slaves  who  had  made  suc- 
cessful escapes. 

The  Underground  Railroad  can  be  considered  the 
most  aggressive  arm  of  the  antislavery  movement,  but 
efforts  to  free  slaves  had  been  going  on  for  quite  some 
time.  Slavery  was  gradually  abolished  in  the  Northern 
states  in  the  wake  of  the  American  Revolution.  Early  in 
the  19th  century,  a  movement  began  to  organize  to  end 
slavery  in  the  South,  where  slave  labor  was  more  inti- 
mately tied  to  the  economy,  more  Africans  were  held  in 
bondage,  and  the  white  population  was  more  defensive 
about  preserving  the  institution. 

The  abolitionist  movement  spread  slowly  until  the 
1830s,  when  its  tone  and  tactics  changed.  In  1833  black 
and  white  abolitionists  from  nine  states  came  together 
in  Philadelphia  to  form  the  American  Anti-Slavery 
Society,  an  organization  designed  to  coordinate  and 
promote  local  antislavery  activity  in  the  free  states. 
From  that  point  on,  the  abolitionist  movement  became 
more  aggressive  in  its  language  and  tactics,  demanding 
the  immediate  end  to  slavery  without  compensating 
slaveholders  for  their  losses.  Other  organizations  were 
formed,  and  relying  on  the  power  of  persuasion,  news- 
papers were  established  and  lecture  tours  were  orga- 
nized to  spread  the  word  througho'ut  the  North  about 
the  evils  of  slavery  and  the  need  for  its  eradication. 
Never  winning  over  more  than  a  small  minority  of 
Northern  whites,  the  antislavery  movement  inspired 
the  national  debate  over  slavery,  pushed  the  slavehold- 
ing  South  into  a  rigid  defensive  position,  and  helped 
prepare  Northern  sentiment  to  eventually  accept  aboli- 
tion as  an  aim  of  the  Civil  War. 

Not  all  abolitionists  approved  of  the  Underground 
Railroad,  although  antislavery  organizations  often 
funded  its  activities  and  in  more  than  one  community 
when  the  local  antislavery  organization  ended  its  meet- 
ing, many  members  remained  behind  to  convene  a 
meeting  of  the  vigilance  committee.  Service  in  the 
underground  network  was  a  dangerous  trade  requiring 
secrecy  and  determination  and  sometimes  extracting 
enormous  sacrifice.  Black  and  white  abolitionist  news- 


62 


papers  cautioned  fugitive  slaves  not  to  discuss  their 
escapes  in  detail  to  avoid  having  their  routes  shut  off  to 
those  still  in  bondage.  Messages  passed  between  agents 
were  filled  with  cryptic  terms  and  vague  references,  a 
style  that  adopted  railroading  language  famihar  to  the 
conductors  but  of  limited  use  to  strangers  or  enemies. 
Caution  and  secrecy  notwithstanding,  dozens  of  agents 
were  jailed  for  aiding  escaping  slaves. 

TTie  antislaver}'  movement  wrote  and  spoke  of 
Calvin  Fairbanks,  Charles  Turner  Torrey,  and  Jonathan 
Walker  as  martyrs,  three  chosen  from  among  the  many. 
Fairbanks  was  jailed  twice,  suffering  16  years  of  foul 
conditions  in  a  Kentucky  prison  for  aiding  a  slave  fami- 
ly escaping  to  Canada.  Charles  Torrey,  the  conductor  of 
perhaps  400  slaves  before  he  was  arrested,  died  of 
tuberculosis  in  a  Baltimore  prison.  Jonathan  Walker,  a 
Massachusetts  sea  captain  who  hid  four 
fugitive  slaves  aboard  his  ship  had 
"S.S." — for  "slave  stealer" — branded  on 
his  right  hand,  served  eight  months  in  jail, 
and  was  forced  to  compensate  the  slave- 
holders for  damages.  The  list  goes  on, 
white  and  black,  slave  and  free,  lingering 
in  jails  in  both  North  and  South. 

More  than  one  Underground  Railroad 
agent  was  arrested  attempting  to  rescue 
slaves  who  had  been  captured  in  the 
North  and  jailed  to  be  sent  back  into  slav- 
ery. The  number  of  jailed  fugitives  and 
rescue  attempts  increased  dramatically 
after  Congress  passed  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  of  1850,  a  point  of  departure  in  the  history  of  the 
Underground  Railroad.  Prior  to  that  date,  under- 
ground agents  and  their  fellow  abolitionists  were 
regarded  as  dangerous  extremists  by  most  Americans, 
even  those  who  considered  themselves  freedom-loving. 
But  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  changed  popular  attitudes 
among  many  Northerners  who  viewed  some  provisions 
of  the  1850  law  as  serious  violations  of  cherished  per- 
sonal liberties  and  constitutional  guarantees. 

Underground  Railroad  activity  and  sectional  ten- 
sions over  slavery  increased  after  1850.  More  whites 
than  ever  before  joined  the  predominately  black  net- 
work, more  funds  became  available,  new  stations  and 
routes  were  established,  and  influential  lav^ers  offered 
their  services  to  defend  captured  fugitives  and  agents 
arrested  for  aiding  them.  The  need  was  considerable. 


By  the  mid-1 800s,  proslavery 
and  antislavery  sentiments 
were  often  expressed  violently. 
Jonathan  Walker,  a  Massachu- 
setts abolitionist,  tried  to  smug- 
gle seven  slaves  from  Pensa- 
cola,  Florida,  to  the  Bahamas 
in  1844.  His  boat  was  captured, 
and  the  slaves  were  returned 
to  their  owners.  Walker  was 
jailed  and  branded  on  his  right 
hand  with  ''SS"for  "slave 
stealer  "As  the  poster  at  left 
indicates,  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  of  1850  made  even  north- 
ern law  officers  abettors  of 
slave  catchers 


63 


Blacks  in  the  Civil  War 


The  Civil  War  began  as  a  war 
to  preserve  the  Union,  a  nation 
Abraham  Lincoln  termed  "half 
slave,  half  free."  But  no  sooner 
had  Union  troops  appeared  in 
the  border  states,  on  islands  off 
the  Atlantic  coast,  and  in  the 
lower  Mississippi  Valley  than 
thousands  of  blacks  took  the 
opportunity  to  liberate  them- 
selves by  fleeing  to  Union 
camps.  A  first  impulse  to  send 
them  back  to  their  masters  was 
soon  squelched.  Runaways, 
such  as  those  shown  below  on 
the  U.S.S.  Vermont,  became 


I 


"contraband,"  or  confiscated 
property  of  war.  Many  of  them 
quickly  found  work  within  the 
Union  lines,  and  family  mem- 
bers joined  them.  In  the  Con- 
federate states,  free  blacks 
were  conscripted  to  dig  fortifi- 
cations and  to  labor  on  roads 
and  in  mines.  Slaves  accompa- 
nied their  masters  to  army 
camps  as  cooks,  grooms,  and 
personal  attendants.  Slave- 
holders hired  out  their  slaves  to 
the  army,  but  as  the  Union 
army  approached,  many  pre- 
ferred to  send  their  slaves  to 
the  interior  lines.  These  enor- 


i^-^er: 


I 


mous  upheavals  in  Southem 
life  created  new  opportunities 
for  self-liberation.  Meanwhile, 
Northern  blacks  who  first 
sought  to  form  military  units 
and  join  the  Federal  army  were 
rebuffed.  Then  in  July  1 862, 
after  the  disastrous  Peninsular 
Campaign,  President  Abraham 
Lincoln  issued  the  Second 
Confiscation  Act  stating  that 
the  Union  could  "employ. .per- 
sons of  African  descent,..for 
the  suppression  of  the  rebel- 
lion." The  entry  into  the  Union 
army  of  African-American    ^ 


I 


y  '1^ 


f^m 


m 


v 


i^v 


units,  like  the  one  at  left  and 
the  famed  54th  Massachusetts 
Colored  Infantry,  plus  encamp- 
ments of  thousands  of  "con- 
trabands" constituted  a  de 
facto  emancipation  before  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation 
went  into  effect  on  January  1 , 
1 863.  The  war  to  save  the 
Union  had  become  the  war  to 
free  the  slaves.  African  Ameri- 
cans had  demonstrated  that 
once  slavery's  chain  was  bro- 
ken it  would  never  be  repaired. 


^*Ma»^ 


"^jft 

ilui 

i 

^^t     ^ 

mm 

B 

>> 

w^^ 


EQUAL    STATE    RIGHTS  I 

lY  WITH  WHITE  HER  I! 


i:«>i 


^■^^^^  "'••''"*i'">-    ^**''-*'   *'"■    'VMileiit   of  the   Unite.1  Sutt-s   j>roclaiiue«l 

iP'jEt.jEiiEtxyojMx.  -r-o  oxrjBxi. 
MILUONS    &•    SIiAVBS 


John  H.  Lawson  served  in  the 
Union  navy  and  received  the 
Medal  of  Honor  for  his  role 
in  the  Battle  of  Mobile  Bay  in 
1864. 


Growing  bold  because  of  expanded  powers  granted 
by  the  new  federal  law,  slave  catchers  and  kidnappers 
swarmed  north  threatening  all  blacks,  not  just  fugitive 
slaves,  with  arbitrary  arrest  and  a  swift  hearing  before  a 
federal  officer  followed  by  life  in  bondage.  So  real  was 
the  threat  and  so  fearful  the  consequences,  a  starthng 
number  of  blacks,  many  of  them  freebom,  fled  the 
United  States  during  the  1850s.  In  Michigan  hundreds 
of  blacks  crossed  the  river  from  Detroit  into  Canada 
during  the  first  months  after  passage  of  the  law. 

In  nearly  every  major  Northern  city  during  the  1850s, 
rescuers  of  captured  fugitives  often  resorted  to  vio- 
lence, which  had  been  considered  by  only  a  radical  few 
during  the  years  before  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  Wher- 
ever the  underground  was  active,  blacks  pledged  their 
will  "to  resist  to  the  death,"  as  one  handbill  announced 
their  intention.  Rescues — failed  and  successful — were 
plentiful  throughout  the  free  states,  some  of  them  well 
organized,  others  spontaneous.  One  of  the  most  cele- 
brated rescues  took  place  in  Syracuse,  New  York,  where 
black  and  white  members  of  the  local  vigilance  com- 
mittee stormed  the  jail  to  free  the  fugitive  slave  Jerry 
McHenry  and  spirited  him  away  to  Canada.  Federal 
prosecutors,  eager  to  make  an  example  of  those  who 
flouted  the  law  and  encouraged  by  President  Millard 
Fillmore,  indicted  26  men,  including  12  blacks.  Nine  of 
the  accused  blacks,  with  leading  black  abolitionists 
Samuel  R.  Ward  and  Jermain  W.  Loguen  among  them, 
fled  to  Canada.  Three  whites  were  tried  and  acquitted. 
Enoch  Reed,  the  single  black  tried,  was  convicted  and 
jailed. 

Fugitive  slaves  on  the  run  sought  a  sanctuary,  a  place 
to  stop,  where  they  could  make  a  new  life  free  of  fear. 
For  some,  that  meant  the  towns  and  cities  of  the  eastern 
free  states.  Others  settled  in  the  villages  and  farm  lands 
of  the  Midwest,  and  many  made  their  way  to  Califor- 
nia, where  more  than  one  family  lost  track  of  fathers, 
brothers,  and  sons  in  the  goldfields  of  the  late  1840s. 
Fugitives  who  lacked  confidence  in  America's  legal  and 
social  values  turned  their  attention  to  foreign  points — 
to  Canada  for  the  majority,  to  the  Caribbean  or  Latin 
America  for  the  few. 

Runaway  slaves  settling  along  the  eastern  seaboard 
found  comfort  and  safety  among  the  growing  numbers 
of  blacks  who  developed  separate  and  vibrant  commu- 
nities in  America's  emerging  urban  centers.  Boston, 
Philadelphia,  and  New  York  were  conspicuous  loca- 


66 


tions  but  not  exclusively  so.  New  Bedford,  Massachu- 
setts, one  of  many  smaller  examples,  attracted  a  fugitive 
population  because  of  its  fishing  and  sailing  trades. 

Wherever  they  settled,  former  slaves  were  typically 
drawn  into  community  life.  Sharing  the  aspirations 
common  to  American  culture,  they  found  jobs,  raised 
families,  and  assumed  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship. 
But  citizenship  and  community  building  were  difficult 
for  African  Americans  during  the  antebellum  years. 
Blacks  struggled  against  racism,  race  violence,  and  an 
indifferent  and  hostile  political  and  legal  system  that  in 
its  normal  application  afforded  them  little  protection 
and  few  resources. 

Self-reliance  became  the  watchword.  Blacks,  free- 
bom  and  former  slave,  built  their  institutions  apart 
from  the  white  majority.  They  founded  and  supported 
their  own  newspapers.  Freedom's  Journal,  the  North 
Star,  The  Colored  American,  The  Anglo-African,  papers 
dedicated  to  serving  black  needs,  national  and  local, 
while  joining  the  battle  against  slavery.  The  Colored 
American  asked  its  readers  "to  speak  out  in  Thunder 
Tones."  Blacks  built  and  funded  their  own  churches, 
schools,  and  orphanages  to  nurture  and  serve  commu- 
nity needs.  They  set  up  reading  rooms  to  promote  liter- 
acy, established  lecture  series  to  spread  the  good  word, 
and  in  the  spirit  of  the  era  of  reform,  they  banded 
together  in  temperance  and  antislavery  groups  to 
change  themselves  and  transform  the  nation. 

Black  institutions  and  organizations  fostered  racial 
pride  and  identity  while  becoming  centerpieces  for 
black  activism  and  leadership.  Veterans  of  the  Under- 
ground Railroad  were  conspicuous  participants.  Fred- 
erick Douglass  was  at  his  editor's  desk,  and  countless 
fugitives  slaves  stood  behind  the  pulpit  of  their  church- 
es every  Sunday  morning  preaching  to  their  congrega- 
tions about  salvation  and  slavery.  They  included  such 
well-established  leaders  as  J.W.C.  Pennington,  Henry 
Highland  Garnet,  Jermain  W.  Loguen,  and  Samuel 
Ringgold  Ward. 

Churches  and  schools  doubled  as  antislavery  meet- 
inghouses, naturally  attracting  former  slaves,  many  of 
them  not  long  off  the  Underground  Railroad.  Believing 
that  Northern  public  opinion  was  the  key  to  a  success- 
ful battle  against  slavery,  abolitionists  published  news- 
papers, books,  and  pamphlets,  and  they  organized 
extensive  lecture  tours.  The  leadership  learned  very 
quickly  that  fugitive  slave  speakers  had  the  greatest 


67 


Samuel  Ringgold  Ward  was  a 
Congregational  minister  and 
a  stirring  orator  known  as 
the  ''Black  Daniel  Webster  " 
As  an  infant,  he  escaped  slav- 
ery with  his  parents.  As  an 
adult  he  became  a  staunch 
abolitionist.  He  went  to  Toron- 
to and  founded  a  black  news- 
paper, The  Provincial  Free- 
man. Ward  aided  fugitives  in 
Canada  and  traveled  extensive- 
ly in  Britain  advocating  racial 
equality  and  raising  funds 
for  black  causes. 


impact  on  audiences;  someone  "who  has  felt  in  his  own 
person  the  evils  of  Slavery,  and  with  a  strong  voice  of 
experience  can  tell  of  its  horrors,"  wrote  one  enthusias- 
tic organizer  of  the  lectures. 

Fugitives  took  their  story  wherever  they  might  be 
heard,  to  the  cities  and  small  towns  across  the  North 
and  Midwest,  in  meetinghouses  and  outdoor  forums. 
They  rode  trains  and  dusty  stagecoaches  to  address 
audiences  that  were  sometimes  hostile,  even  violent; 
Douglass  had  his  wrist  broken  at  an  outdoor  meeting  in 
Indiana.  They  told  personal  tales  of  suffering  and  dra- 
ma— the  Crafts  and  Henry  "Box"  Brown  were 
favorites — and  they  displayed  slavery's  tools — ^whips, 
branding  irons,  leg  chains,  and  neck  collars — to  per- 
suade an  audience  of  slavery's  inhumanity.  And  they 
were  good  at  it,  becoming  the  antislavery  crusade's 
undisputed  true  voice  and  the  cornerstone  of  its  credi- 
bility 

Fugitives  quickly  learned  what  Northern  free  blacks 
always  understood,  that  racism  thrived  in  the  North, 
that  there  was  an  intimate  connection  between  racist 
behavior  in  the  free  states  and  bondage  in  the  South, 
and  to  rid  the  land  of  one  such  evil  and  not  the  other 
would  be  to  leave  the  job  half  done.  So  they  organized 
campaigns  to  win  the  vote,  to  desegregate  streetcars, 
and  to  see  that  a  fair  portion  of  local  taxes  supported 
their  institutions.  During  those  difficult  days,  in  those 
troubled  settings,  former  slaves  shared  the  responsibili- 
ty for  creating  black  institutions  and  helped  establish 
the  leadership  tradition  of  the  black  community. 

Struggle  as  they  might  to  make  a  "life  in  the  country 
they  had  helped  build,  many  fugitive  slaves  grew  dis- 
couraged. The  courts  denied  them  protection,  the  elec- 
toral system  offered  them  no  ballot,  daily  life  was  never 
far  removed  from  reminders  of  segregation  and  dis- 
crimination, and  the  threat  of  race  violence  always 
churned  on  the  surface  of  society.  Little  wonder  that 
many  fugitives  chose  to  flee  the  country. 

The  overwhelming  majority  headed  for  Canada,  at 
least  20,000  by  the  end  of  the  Civil  War,  perhaps  many 
more  depending  upon  whose  sketchy  and  incomplete 
numbers  one  accepts.  But  flee  they  did,  out  of  harm's 
way  into  the  welcoming  embrace  of  the  British  empire 
that  in  the  1830s  abolished  slavery  and  then  handed 
down  legal  decisions  that  protected  fugitive  slaves  from 
being  extradited  back  to  the  United  States  and  back 
into  slavery.  Lewis  Richardson,  one  of  Henry  Clay's 


68 


F*-"T^"»V'*''^t      '^'''^l'''^^      I 


r/?e  £/g//7  Senlement,  also 
known  as  the  Bitxton  Mission, 
was  founded  by  the  Rev.  William 
King.  Formed  in  1849.  it  grew 
and  prospered  until  the  Civil 
War  The  poster  parodizing  the 
language  of  railway  and  other 
commercial  enterprises  tells  of 
the  arrival  of  fugitives  in  Canada 


I^TS^^^^^ 


fel.   *-  •  n 


-•r»^-.V«. 


•    iy 


.4 

>7 


^r^^ 


-^  -  '^^S-^-.T 


UHOX'TOllfSW 


former  slaves,  wrote  of  his  relief  at  being  on  British  soil, 
"where  I  am  not  known  by  the  color  of  my  skin,  but 
where  the  government  knows  me  as  a  man." 

Canada  was  an  appropriate  final  stop  on  the  Under- 
ground Railroad,  a  safe  haven  that  blacks  discovered 
over  time  was  not  wholly  free  of  racial  problems  but 
one  that  offered  them  a  fair  opportunity  to  do  well  and 
to  make  a  life,  and  many  former  slaves  did  just  that. 
They  built  houses,  started  businesses,  and  worked 
farms;  they  discovered  fair  treatment  in  the  courts  and 
open  access  to  the  voting  booth;  they  formed  social 
^  organizations  and  joined  militia  units;  and  they  found- 

J^fc.'*  ed  and  pubUshed  two  newspapers,  the  Provincial  Free- 

^^T^  man  and  the  Voice  of  the  Fugitive.  Nearly  every  center 

of  black  population  had  an  organization  devoted  to 
keeping  a  watchful  eye  out  for  slave  catchers  who 
crossed  the  border  trying  to  kidnap  fugitives  so  they 
might  return  them  to  their  masters — for  a  price. 

The  Canadian  migration  began  as  a  hopeful  termi- 
nus for  the  Underground  Railroad,  a  remedy  from  slav- 
ery's extended  grasp  throughout  the  United  States, 
particularly  after  1850  and  passage  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law.  But  it  became  something  more:  a  symbol  of 
black  determination  and  antislavery  prophesy.  Aboli- 
„  .«^^,      tionists  in  the  United  States  argued  that  the  slave's 
|j||^^^j^#Jj|2L    ^^Jl      decision  to  make  the  dangerous  trek  on  the  Under- 
ground Railroad  undercut  the  slaveowner's  argument 
that  Africans  were  contented  in  their  hfe  of  bondage. 
And,  continued  the  argument,  once  in  Canada,  blacks 
who  thrived  in  a  free  and  open  society  would  effective- 
ly challenge  proslavery  claims  'of  racial  inferiority, 
claims  that  blacks  were  incapable  of  functioning  on 
^  their  own  as  emancipated  citizens  and  therefore  best 
-  left  in  bondage. 

And  nowhere  was  this  symbolism  more  potently 

advertised  and  promoted  than  in  two  of  the  planned 

communities — Dawn  and  Elgin — that  were  established 

^^  J  in  Canada.  Organized  and  funded  by  abolitionists  and 

^^^^  philanthropic  groups  and  individuals,  they  were  set  up 

.^^^^'  to  assist  fugitives,  many  of  whom  arrived  with  little 

jm         /  more  than  a  set  of  clothes  and  their  exhaustion. 

•  The  Dawn  and  Elgin  settlements  were  organized  in 

the  1840s.  Dawn  attracted  some  500  settlers  to  its  1,500 
acres  situated  near  Dresden.  Its  chief  attraction,  aside 
from  the  assistance  and  comfort  of  a  shared  communi- 
ty, was  a  manual  labor  school — the  beloved  promise  of 
education.  Near  Buxton,  Elgin  became  the  most  suc- 

70 


il^-OB   SAi-** 


cessful  of  the  planned  communities  by  1861  with  three 
schools,  two  hotels,  a  general  store,  and  a  post  office  to 
service  the  300  families  who  resided  on  9,000  acres. 
These  communities  were  home  to  fugitive  slaves,  but 
they  also  took  on  great  importance  in  the  U.S.  struggle 
over  slavery.  Guided  by  religion  and  education  and 
dedicated  to  self-help  and  improvement,  the  settle- 
ments were  promoted  by  abolitionists  as  proof  of  black 
fitness  for  freedom.  The  rationale  was  that  if  former 
slaves  could  make  Dawn  and  Elgin  showcases  of  black 
aspirations  and  achievement,  their  very  example  would 
undercut  racist  theories  that  Southerners  and  their 
friends  used  to  defend  slavery. 

The  communities  never  became  what  their  organiz- 
ers and  antislavery  promoters  hoped  for  after  their  ini- 
tial philanthropic  impulse  to  assist  escaping 
slaves  was  diverted  to  antislavery  propa- 
ganda. Dawn  shut  down  in  the  1850s;  Elgin 
struggled  along  for  another  20  years.  But 
these  experiments  do  not  stand  alone  in 
history.  None  of  the  reform-minded 
planned  communities  in  North  America 
prospered  and  flourished  over  the  long 
haul,  not  those  devoted  to  fugitive  slaves  or 
the  ones  idealistic  whites  established  to 
illustrate  the  benefits  of  communal  living. 
And  life  on  the  Canadian  frontier  was 
harsh  even  for  the  experienced  pioneer. 
Towns  and  settlements  sprang  up  and  dis- 
appeared with  alarming  regularity  regard- 
less of  race,  origin,  or  ambition.  The  fate  of 
Dawn,  Elgin,  or  the  others  like  them  in 
Canada  does  little  to  diminish  the  life  that 
thousands  of  blacks  made  for  themselves  in 
the  land  north  of  slavery. 

Canada  was  not  the  only  foreign  country  that  blacks 
sought  out  for  freedom;  it  was  simply  the  only  impor- 
tant one  if  measured  by  numbers  and  systematic 
appeal.  Isolated  examples  have  fugitive  slaves  fleeing  to 
the  nearest  safe  piece  of  geography,  perhaps  the  Indian 
Territory,  or  Mexico,  or  the  occasional  spot  in  the 
Caribbean  if  opportunity  presented  itself,  perhaps  by 
stowing  away  on  a  ship.  With  the  possible  exception  of 
Mexico,  given  its  border  with  Texas,  those  locations 
were  not  central  to  the  Underground  Railroad. 

Runaway  slave  notices  in  Texas  newspapers  hint  at 
part  of  that  story.  An  advertisement  in  a  San  Antonio 


Harriet  Beecher  Stowe's  attack 
on  slavery  in  her  1852  novel, 
Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  was  read 
and  acclaimed  around  the 
world.  When  President  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  was  introduced 
to  her,  he  supposedly  said,  "So 
you  're  the  little  woman  who 
wrote  the  book  that  made  this 
great  war!"  Stowe,  top  left,  ac- 
knowledged the  influence  of 
the  first  autobiography  ofJosi- 
ah  Henson,  lower  left,  on  her 
writing.  Henson  reached  Fort 
Erie,  Canada,  in  1830  with  his 
wife  and  four  children.  In  1841, 
he  helped  found  the  Dawn 
Settlement.  Later  editions  of 


Henson's  autobiography 
emphasized  his  connection 
with  Uncle  Tom.  The  Webb 
family,  above,  toured  the 
North  giving  dramatic  read- 
,  ingsfrom  Stowe's  book. 


71 


Colonization  In  Liberia 


When  the  American  Society  for 
Colonizing  the  Free  People  of 
Colour  in  America  was  estab- 
lished in  1816,  it  was  looked 
upon  with  suspicion  by  most 
free  blacks.  Prominent  politi- 
cians such  as  Henry  Clay  and 
John  Randolph  and  evangeli- 
cal clergymen  said  that 
Africans  had  been  degraded  in 
the  United  States,  and  even  if 
slaves  were  emancipated,  they 
could  not  nse  to  full  citizenship. 
The  only  solution,  the  Society 
members  proposed,  was  to 
offer  to  send  free  blacks  to  a 
colony  in  Africa  where  they 
might  make  their  own  republic. 
And,  slaveholders  added,  this 
would  tend  to  make  slave 
property  more  secure  since  no 
African  could  be  mistaken  for  a 
free  person.  It  was  this  point 
that  turned  most  free  blacks 
away  from  Liberia,  which  the 
American  Colonization  Society 
had  founded  by  1821.  Still, 
some  blacks  were  attracted  to 
Liberia  as  a  place  where  they 
could  establish  their  own  gov- 
ernment, develop  trade  and 
commerce,  and  send  mission- 
aries. In  its  first  decade,  Liberia 


received  about  3,000  African 
Americans,  predominately  free 
and  in  families.  After  the  early 
1830s,  more  of  the  emigrants 
were  family  groups  manumitted 
specially  to  be  sent  to  Liberia.  In 
1847,  Liberia  became  a  republic 
and  operated  under  a  constitu- 
tion that  was  modeled  on— and 
mocked— the  U.S.  Constitution. 
By  the  Civil  War,  14,000  black 
Americans  had  emigrated  there. 
The  emigration  sparked  strong 
emotions.  Each  side  considered 
the  other  deluded.  Although  the 
colonization  of  West  Africa  drew 
more  African  Americans  than 
emigrated  elsewhere  except  for 
Canada,  it  remained  unpopular 
among  enslaved  people  be- 
cause of  its  sponsorship  by 
whites,  its  distance  from  the 
United  States,  and  mmors  of 
high  death  rates.  Daniel  Dashiel 
Warner  (shown  at  right  in  a  por- 
trait by  Thomas  Sully)  and  his 
family  moved  to  Monrovia, 
Liberia,  in  1823  and  built  a  ship- 
yard. Warner  served  as  presi- 
dent in  1 861 .  The  president's 
palace,  below,  looked  much  like 
houses  in  Maryland,  Virginia, 
and  Ohio. 


.-■*>!:=:?3r2«^*?^^ 


■^^A.f^^^*^^ 


^■^^'  i—       '  *M   ^      ^    IM    JIf      III     ■« 


I    iU     III      III     ■« 

j  i»  en  HI  sfl 


paper  described  a  man  named  Nelson  as  ''probably  on 
his  way  to  Mexico."  Dark  in  complexion,  6  feet  tall,  160 
pounds,  with  high  cheekbones.  Nelson  had  fled  slavery 
well-equipped,  with  a  Spanish  horse  and  a  fine  saddle,  a 
large  double-barrel  shotgun,  and  a  "considerable  sum 
of  money."  Nelson's  owner  promised  the  horse  and 
cash  to  anyone  who  would  capture  the  slave,  "or  the 
same  reward  for  his  scalp." 

Locations  outside  of  North  America  offered  a  pow- 
erful attraction  to  some  African-American  leaders, 
including  fugitive  slaves.  Haiti,  Jamaica,  the  West  Indies, 
and  Africa  were  their  most  common  points  of  refer- 
ence. But  as  destinations  for  the  runaway  slave  heading 
out  of  the  South,  those  would  have  been  impossible 
goals  in  all  but  extraordinary  circumstances.  Such  exot- 
ic foreign  spots  were  invoked  in  discussions  by  black 
leaders  who  promoted  emigration,  a  move  out  of  North 
America,  away  from  white-controlled  nations  and  terri- 
tories, to  places  where  people  of  color  made  their  own 
destiny.  The  argument,  simply  stated,  was  that  a  true 
black  nationality  could  not  develop  and  thrive  in  a 
majority  white  environment. 

An  organized  effort  explored  an  earlier  African- 
American  settlement  in  Liberia  and  emigration  to 
Africa  under  the  inspiration  of  Martin  R.  Delany,  a 
physician  and  black  nationalism's  most  persistent  advo- 
cate. Another  program  sponsored  several  hundred 
blacks  to  settle  in  Haiti  with  disastrous  results.  Black 
leaders,  fugitives  among  them,  flirted  with  different 
locations.  J.W.C.  Pennington  considered  Jamaica  briefly 
in  the  1840s.  And  during  the  most  difficult  1850s,  after 
passage  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  even  emigration's 
toughest  black  critics  softened  their  objections,  no 
longer  certain  that  America  could  be  reformed  on  mat- 
ters of  race  and  slavery. 

But  emigration  was  always  more  a  debate  among 
black  leaders  than  a  program  for  the  future  among 
black  citizens.  The  discussion  always  grew  fiercer  in 
times  of  greatest  racial  troubles  in  the  United  States; 
but  as  the  nation  turned  its  attention  to  sectional  antag- 
onisms and  finally  to  the  Civil  War,  the  debate  grew 
still.  Delany,  emigration's  wisest  and  most  thoughtful 
advocate,  was  among  the  many  black  nationalist  lead- 
ers who  abandoned  emigration  and  turned  their  talents 
to  supporting  the  Union  war  effort  in  the  hope  that  it 
would  become  a  struggle  for  emancipation,  America's 
salvation  for  the  slaves  and  the  oppressed. 


73 


The  Underground  Railroad  continued  throughout 
the  Civil  War  and  into  Reconstruction.  Some  Southern 
agents,  such  as  Harriet  Tubman,  became  spies  for  the 
Union  army  while  continuing  to  aid  the  growing  num- 
ber of  runaways.  Northern  stations  maintained  their 
longtime  functions  while  expanding  assistance  to  desti- 
tute freedmen  seeking  shelter  behind  Union  lines  in  the 
occupied  South.  After  Abraham  Lincoln  issued  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  in  1863,  tens  of  thousands 
of  slaves  left  plantations  in  Confederate  territory  to 
join  a  passing  Union  column  or  made  their  way  to  a 
federal  army  encampment,  where  they  often  were 
turned  away  or  welcomed  with  less  than  a  liberator's 
embrace. 

As  the  war  drew  to  a  close  and  the  nation  faced  the 
pressing  question  about  the  future  of  the  freed  slaves, 
the  underground  network  shifted  its  focus  to  relief 
efforts,  collecting  funds,  food,  and  clothing  for  those 
who  left  bondage  with  little  more  than  the  clothes  they 
were  wearing.  The  network  that  for  so  long  waged  an 
active  war  against  slavery  turned  its  attention  in  peace- 
time to  helping  define  the  terms  of  emancipation. 

With  the  end  of  Reconstruction  and  the  passing  of 
time,  the  Underground  Railroad  has  been  elevated  to 
the  place  of  national  legend,  its  status  earned  by  sacri- 
fices in  the  campaign  against  tyranny  and  conferred  as 
the  embodiment  of  the  nation's  foremost  principles  of 
freedom  and  liberty. 


On  foot,  on  horseback,  in 
wagons,  any  way  they  could, 
slaves  in  increasing  numbers 
fled  to  Union  lines  as  Federal 
armies  invaded  different  parts 
of  the  South.  The  North  de- 
clared the  runaways  contra- 
band and  gave  them  food  and 
shelter  and  put  them  to  work 
preparing  meals,  digging 
trenches,  and  other  troop  sup- 
port activities. 


75 


■*     .»_ 


f 


This  painting  of  Mulberry 
Plantation  in  South  Carolina 
by  an  unknown  artist  shows 
the  slave  quarters  located  close 
to  the  main  residence. 


i«B5^WMB%;vt^.1^E3^ 


<P*5!i 


i^ 


'/  1"^^*^^- 


fn  J832,  Willkim  Lloyd  Garri- 
son and  r9  fellow  aboMonists 
founded  the  New  England 
Anti-Slavery  Society  at  the 
African  Meeting  House  in 
Boston.  This  photograph 
shows  the  church  in  1875. 


-^ 


^'^Mf^;-^ 


i-^:;.  ?;^.... 

um  ^ 


^ 


fWy*Mfe-H#M:lUd. 


— ! 


Recognizing  Historic  Places 


Many  sites  in  the  United  States  are  said 
to  be  associated  with  the  Underground 
Railroad.  Some  of  these  may  be  ehgible 
for  listing  in  the  National  Register  of 
Historic  Places.  Definitively  deciding 
which  ones  were  "stations"  on  or  other- 
wise related  to  the  informal  network  of 
slave-escape  routes  is  difficult,  because, 
as  Larry  Gara  points  out  in  the  introduc- 
tion to  this  book,  many  aspects  of  the 
Underground  Railroad  story  have  taken 
on  a  mythical  aura. 

The  National  Register  of  Historic 
Places,  administered  by  the  National 
Park  Service  under  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  is  the  official  Hst  of  the  nation's 
cultural  districts,  sites,  buildings,  struc- 
tures, and  objects  that  are  significant  in 
American  history,  architecture,  archeol- 
ogy, engineering,  and  culture.  These 
resources  contribute  to  an  understand- 
ing of  the  historical  and  cultural  founda- 
tions of  the  nation. 

Most  nominations  to  the  National 
Register  are  made  by  the  states  through 
State  Historic  Preservation  Offices 
(SHPO).  State  review  boards,  composed 
of  professionals  in  the  fields  of  Ameri- 
can history,  architectural  history,  archi- 
tecture, prehistoric  and  historic 
archeology,  and  other  related  disciplines 
make  recommendations  to  the  SHPO 
when  a  nomination  meets  the  National 
Register  criteria  and  should  be  forward- 
ed to  the  National  Park  Service. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Interior  also  is 
responsible  for  determining  which  prop- 
erties have  national  significance  to  all 
Americans  and  therefore  may  be  desig- 
nated as  National  Historic  Landmarks. 
The  National  Park  Service,  which  also 
administers  the  National  Historic  Land- 
marks Program,  works  with  other  gov- 
ernmental agencies  and  private 
organizations  in  studying  places  and 
nominating  them  for  designation  as 
Landmarks. 


Initial  requests  for  consideration  may 
come  from  organizations,  SHPOs,  local 
officials,  or  owners.  The  National  Park 
System  Advisory  Board,  composed  of 
citizens  appointed  by  the  Secretary, 
reviews  nominations  to  determine 
whether  a  property  meets  the  Land- 
mark criteria  and  then  conveys  its  rec- 
ommendations to  the  Secretary,  who 
makes  the  final  decision  about  Land- 
mark designation. 

Listing  in  the  National  Register  does 
not  interfere  with  a  private  property 
owner's  right  to  alter,  manage,  or  dis- 
pose of  the  property.  Owners  of  proper- 
ties designated  as  Landmarks  also  do 
not  give  up  any  rights  of  ownership  or 
use.  Because  a  federal  agency  must  con- 
sider the  effects  of  a  proposed  project  on 
a  property  listed  in  or  eligible  for  listing 
in  the  National  Register,  including 
National  Historic  Landmarks,  the  listing 
may  help  protect  the  historic  place 
against  possible  adverse  threats  from 
federal  projects,  such  as  highways  or  util- 
ity lines. 

National  Register  listing  and  Land- 
mark designation  also  may  make  the 
owner  eligible  for  certain  tax  incentives 
and  preservation  grants.  Pending  legisla- 
tion requires  the  National  Park  Service 
to  create  an  official,  uniform  symbol  or 
device  which  will  mark  all  historic  prop- 
erties associated  with  the  Underground 
Railroad  listed  in  the  National  Register. 


79 


Verification:  Documents  and  Artifacts 


The  Rokeby  Museum  and  Fort 
Mose  are  associated  with  the 
story  of  runaways  and  illus- 
trate how  historians  use  evi- 
dence ranging  from  archeol- 
ogical  excavations  and  site 
inspections  to  documents  and 
aerial  photography  to  verify  a 
site's  significance.  Both  are 
National  Historic  Landmarks. 

Rokeby,  in  Ferrisburgh.Ver- 
mont,  was  the  home  and  farm- 
stead of  the  Robinson  family, 
1 793  to  1 961 .  Thomas  Robin- 
son was  an  active  member  of 
state  and  local  antislavery 


^: 


n 


^sBBES^B*  ' 


t^- 


societies,  but ,.  „«» 
Rowland  Thomas  Robinson, 
right,  who  became  an  ardent 
abolitionist  and  sheltered 
fugitives.  The  family's  help  to 
runaways  is  well  documented 
in  the  museum's  collection  of 
10,000  documents.  They  in- 
clude letters  from  abolition- 
ists Lucretia  Mott  and  William 
Lloyd  Garrison.  Other  letters 
concern  the  safety  and  job 
prospects  of  fugitives,  along 
with  documentation  of  one 
slaveholder's  attempts  to  get 
a  fugitive  to  return  volun- 
tarily. The  papers  reveal  that 
some  runaways  were  given 
temporary  shelter  while  others 
stayed  there  to  work. 


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Fort  Mose,  labeled  simply  as 
"Negroe  Fort"  on  the  map  at 
left,  dates  to  the  era  when 
Spain  controlled  Florida  and 
fought  with  England  over  the 
lands  around  Florida's  present 
border  with  Georgia.  Africans 
and  Indians  crossed  the  border 
into  Florida  to  escape  enslave- 
ment or  extinction  under  the 
English.  In  1738  Florida  offered 
sanctuary  to  fugitive  slaves 
and  made  them  part  of  a  mili- 
tia. To  increase  defenses  and 
to  house  the  blacks,  the 
Spaniards  established  a  town 
and  fort  two  miles  to  the  north 
called  Gracia  Real  de  Santa 
Teresa  de  Mose.  The  fort  and  a 
subsequent  fort  were  used 
until  1 763  when  Spain  ceded 
Florida  to  England.  In  1976 
Jack  Williams  believed  he  had 
located  the  site  of  Fort  Mose  in 
a  salt  marsh  he  owned.  Ten 
years  later  the  Florida  Museum 
of  Natural  History  began  a 
study  of  the  site.  With  the  help 
of  the  National  Aeronautics  and 
Space  Administration,  archeol- 
ogists  used  thennal  images  to 
determine  the  now-underwater 
site  of  the  first  fort  and  used 
maps,  plus  aerial  photographs 
and  archeological  excavations 
to  locate  the  second  fort  on  a 
small  island  in  the  marsh. 
From  documents  in  Spain, 
Florida,  and  other  places  and 
from  bones,  seeds,  and  arti- 
facts, they  are  putting  together 
the  story  of  Fort  Mose,  which  is 
administered  by  the  Florida 
Department  of  Environmental 
Protection. 


VA* 


Further  Reading 

By  Marie  Tyler-McGraw 

At  the  core  of  the  Underground  Rail- 
road story  is  an  argument  about  the 
nature  of  American  slavery  and  the 
extent  to  which  enslaved  African  Ameri- 
cans could  and  did  carry  out  their  own 
plans  for  escape. 

Many  American  historians  writing  in 
the  late  19th  and  early  20th  centuries 
characterized  the  slave  system  as  benign 
and  the  slaves  as  content.  To  do  this,  they 
had  to  minimize  the  importance  of  run- 
aways. U.B.  Phillips's  book,  American 
Negro  Slavery  (New  York:  D.  Appleton, 
1918),  was  the  culmination  of  this  work 
and  dominated  the  field  for  decades. 
Phillips  portrayed  escape  from  bondage 
as  insignificant  to  the  history  of  slavery. 

It  was  not  until  the  1950s  that  main- 
stream historians  began  to  review  the 
documentary  evidence  and  came  to  con- 
clusions that  interpreted  slavery  and 
the  slave  quite  differently.  Works  by 
Kenneth  Stampp,  The  Peculiar  Institu- 
tion (New  York:  Vintage  Press,  1956) 
and  Stanley  Elkins,  Slavery:  A  Problem 
in  American  Institutional  and  Intellectual 
Life  (Chicago:  University  of  Chicago 
Press,  1959)  saw  slavery  as  harsh,  and,  in 
Elkins's  case,  as  robbing  the  enslaved  of 
their  sense  of  self. 

These  two  books  sparked  a  genera- 
tion of  research  beginning  in  the  1960s 
that  examined  every  aspect  of  the  sys- 
tem of  slavery  and  generally  concluded 
that  slavery,  although  deeply  damaging 
to  the  African  American,  did  not  destroy 
the  possibility  of  independent  thought 
and  action.  TTie  Underground  Railroad, 
already  the  subject  of  some  histories 
and  memoirs  and  a  part  of  many  local 
legends,  was  reexamined  as  a  slave- 
directed  enterprise. 

Many  of  the  local  legends  gathered  in 
the  late  19th  century  were  published  as 


oral  histories,  memoirs,  newspaper  arti- 
cles, and  other  memorabilia  of  the 
Underground  Railroad.  They  were  pri- 
marily collected  by  those  sympathetic  to 
aboHtionism.The  most  important  col- 
lected primary  sources  from  that  era  are 
Wilbur  Siebert,  The  Underground  Rail- 
way from  Slavery  to  Freedom  (New 
York:  The  Macmillan  Company,  1898) 
and  William  Still,  The  Underground 
Railroad  (reprint  edition  Amo  Press: 
New  York,  1968;  original  edition  Phila- 
delphia, 1872).  Siebert  gathered  docu- 
ments and  reminiscences  from  aged 
abolitionists  or  their  descendants  in  the 
1890s.  Still,  an  active  participant  in  the 
Philadelphia  Underground  Railroad, 
attempted  after  the  Civil  War  to  recon- 
struct each  narrative  for  publication. 

More  contemporary  are  C.  Peter  Rip- 
ley, et  al,  editors,  The  Black  Abolitionist 
Papers,  five  volumes  (Chapel  Hill:  Uni- 
versity of  North  Carolina  Press,  1985-93) 
and  Charles  Blockson,  The  Under- 
ground Railroad  (New  York:  Prentice 
Hall,  1987). 

A  classic  work  on  black  history  is 
John  Hope  Franklin  and  Alfred  Moss 
Jr.,  From  Slavery  to  Freedom: A  History 
of  African  Americans  (7th  ed.,  New  York: 
McGraw  Hill  Publishing  Co.,  1994). 

The  best  examination  of  evidence  done 
thus  far  to  separate  the  myth  from  the 
reality  of  the  Underground  Railroad  is 
Larry  Gara's  The  Liberty  Line:  The 
Legend  of  the  Underground  Railroad 
(reprint  edition  Lexington:  University 
Press  of  Kentucky;  1996;  original  edition 
Lexington,  1961).  His  first  and  last  chap- 
ters are  an  account  of  exaggerated  and 
romanticized  texts  and  newspaper 
accounts.  Gara  has  performed  the  cen- 
tral historical  task  of  asking  what  evi- 
dence exists,  and  he  provides  a  good  list 
of  fictionalized  citations  to  avoid. 


82 


Since  Gara's  book  was  written,  the 
1930s  Works  Progress  Administration 
(WPA)  oral  histories  of  slavery  and  the 
fugitive  slave  memoirs  of  the  late  ante- 
bellum era  from  1830  to  1860  have  been 
combed  for  references  to  runaways  and 
the  Underground  Railroad.  Most  of  the 
accounts  of  slave  narratives  published 
since  1970 — such  as  John  Blassingame's 
Slave  Testimony:  Two  Centuries  of  Let- 
ters, Speeches,  Interviews  and  Autobi- 
ographies (Baton  Rouge:  Louisiana 
University  Press,  1977)  and  George 
Rawick,  From  Sundown  to  Sunup:  The 
Making  of  a  Black  Community  (West- 
port,  Connecticut:  Greenwood  Press, 
1972) — have  come  from  those  sources. 

Useful  sources  for  analyzing  fugitive 
slave  memoirs  include  Gilbert  Osofsky, 
editor,  Puttin '  on  Ole  Massa  (New  York: 
Harper  Torchbooks,  1969);  Robin  Winks, 
The  Blacks  in  Canada  (New  Haven: 
Yale,  1971 );  Charles  T.  Davis  and  Henry 
Louis  Gates,  Jr.,  editors.  The  Slave's  Nar- 
rative (New  York:  Oxford  University 
Press,  1985);  and  R.J.M.  Blackett,  Beat- 
ing Against  the  Barriers:  Biographical 
Essays  in  Nineteenth-Century  Afro- 
American  History  (Baton  Rouge:  Loui- 
siana State  University  Press,  1986).  They 
note  which  fugitive  memoirs  were  writ- 
ten by  the  fugitive,  which  were  told  to  an 
editor  or  amanuensis,  which  were  edited 
much  later,  which  were  entirely  false, 
and  which  were  changed  substantially 
between  one  edition  and  the  other. 

An  excellent  place  to  begin  the  history 
of  antislavery  in  North  America  is  Mer- 
ton  Dillon,  Slavery  Attacked:  Southern 
Slaves  and  Their  Allies,  1619-1865 
(Baton  Rouge:  Louisiana  State  Univer- 
sity Press,  1990).  Overviews  of  the  aboli- 
tionists may  be  found  in  James  Stewart, 
Holy  Warriors:  The  Abolitionists  and 


American  Slavery  (New  York:  Hill  and 
Wang,  1976)  and  Benjamin  Quarles, 
Black  Abolitionists  (New  York:  Oxford 
University  Press,  1969). 

The  best  summary  of  the  philosophi- 
cal development  of  antislavery  in  the 
Western  tradition  is  David  Brion  Davis, 
Slavery  and  Human  Progress  (New 
York:  Oxford  University  Press,  1984). 
Thomas  Haskell  makes  the  argument 
for  the  relation  between  benevolence 
and  a  prospering  economy  in  "Capital- 
ism and  the  Origins  of  the  Humanitarian 
Sensibility,"  American  Historical  Review 
90,  nos.  3  and  4,  (April  and  June,  1985). 

The  religious  impulse  in  antislavery  usu- 
ally begins  in  the  mid- 18th  century  with 
the  Society  of  Friends,  or  Quakers,  in 
England  and  America  who  began  to 
view  slavery  as  an  evil.  Although  Quak- 
ers were  not  the  only  religious  group  to 
oppose  slavery,  they  became  the  best 
known.  For  an  account  of  their  spiritual 
journey,  see  Jean  Soderlund,  Quakers 
and  Slavery:  A  Divided  Spirit  (Princeton: 
Princeton  University  Press,  1985). 

The  religious  debate  over  slavery 
caused  denominational  divisions  and  the 
development  of  Biblical  arguments  for 
and  against  slavery.  The  rise  of  evangeli- 
cal Protestantism  at  the  same  time  as 
Enlightenment-based  arguments  for 
American  independence  and  liberty  are 
explored  in  such  books  as  Rhys  Isaac, 
The  Transformation  of  Virginia,  1744- 
1790  (Chapel  Hill:  University  of  North 
Carolina  Press  for  Williamsburg,  Vir- 
ginia: The  Institute  of  Early  American 
History  and  Culture,  1982).  Three  excel- 
lent books  on  the  development  of  a 
black  theology  and  cosmos  rooted  in 
both  Christianity  and  slavery  are  Albert 
Raboteau,  Slave  Religion:  The  Invisible 
Institution  (New  York:  Oxford  Univer- 
sity Press.  1978);  Mechal  Sobel,  Trabelin' 


83 


On:  The  Slave  Journey  to  an  Afro-Baptist 
Faith  (Westport,  Connecticut:  Green- 
wood Press.  1979):  and  Eugene  Geno- 
vese,  Roll,  Jordan,  Roll:  The  World  the 
Slaves  Made  (New  York:  Pantheon 
Books,  1974). 

The  Journal  of  Negro  History,  which 
began  publication  in  1916  under  the  edi- 
torship of  Carter  G  Woodson,  often 
provided  a  venue  for  the  pubUcation  of 
excellent  scholarship  on  African-Ameri- 
can life  in  the  decades  before  1970  when 
the  official  American  history  journals 
were  almost  closed  to  that  subject. 

Useful  overviews  of  the  changing  inter- 
pretations of  slavery  and  of  black  life  in 
the  South  include  Peter  Kolchin.  Am^n- 
can  Slavery^- 1619-1877  (New  York:  Hill 
and  Wang.  1993)  and  Peter  Parish,  Slav- 
ery: History  and  Historians  (New  York: 
Harper  and  Row,  1989). 

For  the  life  of  Northern  free  blacks,  see 
Chapter  3,  "Links  to  Bondage,"  in  James 
Oliver  Horton,  Free  People  of  Color: 
Inside  the  African-American  Community 
(Washington:  Smithsonian  Institution 
Press,  1993)  and  James  Ohver  Horton 
and  Lois  E.  Horton,  In  Hope  of  Liberty 
(New  York:  Oxford  University  Press, 
1997). 

John  W  Blassingame,  The  Slave  Com- 
munity: Plantation  Life  in  the  Antebel- 
lum South  (New  York:  Oxford 
University  Press,  1972)  argues  that 
slaves  were  able  to  overcome  many  of 
the  obstacles  that  were  designed  to  keep 
them  separate  from  each  other  and 
dependent  on  the  masters,  as  does  Her- 
bert G  Gutman,  The  Black  Family  in 
Slavery  and  Freedom,  1750-1925  (New 
York:  Vintage  Books,  1976).  For  a  recent 
analysis  of  the  slave  family,  see  Brenda 
E.  Stevenson,  Life  in  Black  and  White: 


Family  and  Community  in  the  Slave 
South  (New  York:  Oxford  University 
Press,  1996). 

Slave  insurrection  and  rebellion,  often 
betrayed  before  they  began,  were  never 
successful  in  the  United  States.  Herbert 
Aptheker's  American  Negro  Slave 
Revolts  (New  York:  International  Pub- 
lishers, 1943)  is  often  criticized  for  his 
tendency  to  accept  all  evidence  for  slave 
revolt,  but  the  book  is  comprehensive. 
Douglas  Egerton  has  written  Gabriels 
Rebellion  (Chapel  Hill:  University  of 
North  Carolina  Press,  1993),  and  Ste- 
phen Oates  has  written  of  Nat  Turner  in 
The  Fires  of  Jubilee  (New  York:  Harper 
&  Row,  1975;  Perennial  Library  Edition, 
1990).  See  also  Peter  Wood,  Black 
Majority:  Negroes  in  Colonial  South  Car- 
olina from  1670  Through  the  Stono 
Rebellion  (New  York:  Knopf,  1974). 

David  Walker's  Appeal,  an  angry  and 
eloquent  indictment  of  slavery  by  a 
black  man  whose  writing  influenced 
Northern  antislavery  and  Southern  reac- 
tions, is  available  in  several  editions.  See 
Herbert  Aptheker,  editor.  One  Continu- 
al Cry:  David  Walker's  Appeal  to  the  Col- 
ored Citizens  of  the  World  (1829-1830): 
Its  Setting,  Its  Meaning  (New  York:  Hu- 
manities Press,  1965)  or  Peter  P.  Hinks, 
To  Awaken  My  Afflicted  Brethren:  David 
Walker  and  the  Problem  of  Antebellum 
Slave  Resistance  (University  Park,  Pa.: 
Pennsylvania  State  University  Press,  1997). 

The  creation  and  persistence  of  African- 
American  cultural  identity  are  discussed 
in  Lawrence  Levine,  Black  Culture  and 
Black  Consciousness:  Afro-American 
Thought  from  Slavery  to  Freedom  (New 
York:  Oxford  University  Press,  1977), 
and  the  origins  of  pan- African  national- 
ism are  the  topic  of  Floyd  J.  Miller,  The 
Search  for  a  Black  Nationality:  Black 


84 


Emigration  and  Colonization.  1787-1863 
(Urbana:  University  of  Illinois  Press, 
1975). 

For  life  in  Canada,  see  Robin  Winks, 
The  Blacks  in  Canada  (New  Haven:  Yale 
University  Press.  1971);  Michael  Wayne. 
•'The  Black  Population  of  Canada  West 
on  the  Eve  of  the  American  Civil  War:  A 
Reassessment  Based  on  the  Manuscript 
Census  of  1861."  Social  History,  Volume 
28,  no.  56  (November  1995);  and  Gary 
Collison.  Shadrach  Minkins:  From  Fugi- 
tive Slave  to  Citizen  (Cambridge.  Massa- 
chusetts: Harvard  Universitv  Press, 
1997). 

For  Mexico  and  the  Southwest,  see 
Randolph  Campbell.  ^4/1  Empire  for 
Liberty:  The  Peculiar  Institution  in  Texas, 
1821-1865  (Baton  Rouge:  Louisiana 
State  University  Press.  1989). 

For  the  travel  journal  of  an  abolition- 
ist who  went  to  Mexico.  Canada,  and 
Haiti  seeking  the  best  accommodations 
for  free  blacks,  read  Benjamin  Earle, 
editor.  Life,  Travels  and  Opinions  of 
Benjamin  Lundy  (reprint  edition  New 
York:  Amo  Press,  1969).  Also  see  Ken- 
neth Mulroy,  Freedom  on  the  Border: 
The  Seminole  Maroons  in  Florida,  the 
Indian  Territory,  Coahuila,  and  Texas 
(Lubbock:  Texas  Tech  Universitv  Press, 
1993). 

Other  Titles 

Here  are  a  few  other  publications  sug- 
gested by  Larry  Gara.  Brenda  E.  Steven- 
son, and  C.  Peter  Ripley: 

■  Arna  W.  Bontemps.  editor.  Five 
Black  Lives:  The  Autobiographies  of 
Venture  Smith,  James  Mars,  William 
Grimes,  The  Rev.  G.  W.  Off  ley  and 
James  L.  Smith  (Middletown: 
Wesleyan  University  Press,  1971). 

■  Nat  Brandt,  The  Town  That  Started  the 
Civil  War  (Svracuse:  Syracuse  Universitv 
Press.  1990).' 


■  Philip  S.  Foner.  History  of  Black  Amer- 
icans: From  the  Emergence  of  the  Cotton 
Kingdom  to  the  Eve  of  the  Compromise 
of  1850  (Westport,  Connecticut:  Green- 
wood Press.  1983). 

■  Byron  D.  Fruehling  and  Robert  H. 
Smith,  "Subterranean  Hideaways  of  the 
Underground  Railroad  in  Ohio:  An 
Architectural  and  Historical  Critique  of 
Local  Tradition,"  Ohio  Historv  102 
(1993):  98-1 17. 

■  James  Oliver  Horton  and  Lois  E.  Hor- 
ton.  Black  Bostonians:  Family  Life  and 
Community  Struggle  in  the  Antebellum 
North  (New  York:  Holmes  &  Meier, 
1979). 

■  Carol  Kammen.  On  Doing  Local  His- 
tory: Reflections  on  What  Local  Histori- 
ans Do.  Why,  and  What  It  Means 
(Walnut  Creek.  California:  Alta  Mira 
Press,  for  Nashville, Tennessee:  Ameri- 
can Association  for  State  and  Local  His- 
tory. 1986). 

■  David  E.  Ky\'ig  and  Myron  A.  Marty, 
Nearby  History:  Exploring  the  Past 
Around  You  (Walnut  Creek,  California: 
Alta  Mira  Press,  1996;  first  edition. 
American  Association  for  State  and 
Local  History.  1982). 

■  Stephen  B.  Oates,  editor,  and  John  S. 
Ford.  Rip  Ford's  Texas  (Austin:  Universi- 
ty of  Texas  Press,  1963). 

■  Joe  M.  Richardson,  editor.  Trial  and 
Imprisonment  of  Jonathan  Walker  at 
Pensacola,  Florida:  Aiding  Slaves  to 
Escape  From  Bondage  (Gainesville: 
University  Presses  of  Florida.  1974). 

■  Stuart  S.  Sprague.  editor.  His  Promised 
Land:  The  Autobiography  of  John  P. 
Parker,  Former  Slave  and  Conductor  on 
the  Underground  Railroad  (New  York: 
WW  Norton  &  Co..  1996). 

■  Julie  Winch,  Philadelphia 's  Black 
Elite:  Activism,  Accommodation,  and  the 
Struggle  for  Autonomy,  1 787-1848 
(Philadelphia: Temple  University  Press, 
1988). 


85 


Index 


Numbers  in  italics  refer  to 
photographs,  illustrations  or 
maps. 

Abolitionism  15,55, 56-57, 
59, 62-63;  African  slave  trade 
in  United  States,  14;  soci- 
eties, 14, 56-57, 62;  black,  54, 
57, 61-62.  See  also  under  indi- 
vidual names  and  societies 
Africa  22-23, 25 
African  Meeting  House 
10,78 

American  and  Foreign  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  56 
American  Anti-Slavery 
Society  56, 62 
Alum  Creek  Settlement  7 
American  Colonization 
Society  72 

Am/srat?  (ship)  14,28-29 
Antrobus,  J.  35 
Arlington  National 
Cemetery  13 
Attucks,  Crispus  14, 36 

Banneker,  Benjamin  36,  37 
Bermuda  26 

Boston  i(?,  66,  75 

Brazil  19 

Brookes  21 

Brown,  Henry  "Box"  48, 49, 

51-52 

Brown,  John  8, 15,  58 

Burial,  slave  34 

Buxton  Mission.  See  Elgin 

Settlement 

Canada  7, 48, 68-71 
Caribbean  area  19, 20 
Charleston  21, 31 
Churches.  See  Religion  and 
churches 

Cinque,  Joseph  28, 29 
Civil  War  15;  blacks  in  mili- 
tary 75,  64-65 
Coffin,  Catherine  60,  61 
Coffin,  Levi  12, 60, 61 
Clay,  Henry  68, 72 
Colored  American,  The 
(newspaper)  67 
Collison,  Gary  1 1 
Company  of  Royal  Adven- 
turers Trading  to  Africa  26 
Craft,  Ellen  46  47,51 
Craft,William46  47,  51 
Crowe,  Eyre  40 


Dawn  Settlement  70, 71 
Delany,  Martin  R.  73 
Depee,  Nathanial  W.  54, 55 
Douglass,  Frederick:  aboli- 
tionist spokesman  8, 46;  auto- 
biography 52;  photos  14, 53, 
57;  and  Underground  Rail- 
road 58, 67;  Frederick  Doug- 
lass' Newspaper  52;  North 
Star  52,53,  59 
Dutch  14,20,26 
Dwight,  Margaret  19 

Edmonds,  Amanda  39 
Elgin  Settlement  69, 70-71 
Emancipation  Proclamation 

(1863)15,65,75 
England  20, 81 
Equiano,  Olaudah  24,  25 
Escapes.  See  Underground 
Railroad 
Europe  20, 23 

Fairbanks,  Calvin  63 
Female  Anti-Slavery  Society 

14,56 

54th  Massachusetts  Colored 
Infantry  65 
Fillmore,  Millard  66 
Five  Black  Lives  (book)  50 
Flora  75,  19 

Florida  81;  Department  of 
Environmental  Protection 
81;  Museum  of  Natural 
History  81 
FortMose80,S7 
Forten,  Margaretta  14 
Free  blacks  12,75,26,31,36, 
37;  aid  fugitive  slaves  47; 
communal  institutions  67-68; 
emigration  72, 73;  Northern 
discrimination  67 
Freedom's  Journal  67 
Fugitive  Slave  Law:  of  1850 
7, 11, 14, 63, 66;  of  1793  14,51 
Fugitive  slaves:  aided  by  free 
blacks  47;  Canada  7, 48, 68, 
70-71;  Florida  81;  escapes  4-5, 
8, 76-77,  46-52  passim;  illus- 
trations cover,  inside  front 
cover,  2-3, 16-17,  48-49,  62; 
Mexico  48, 71 ,  73;  Northern 
treatment  14, 68;  settlements 
2, 66-73, 81;  with  Union 
forces  74-75.  See  also 
Underground  Railroad 
Fruehling,  Byron  12 


Gabriel's  Conspiracy  28 
Garlic,  Delia  18 
Garner,  Margaret  2-3 
Garnet,  Henry  Highland  67 
Garrett,  Thomas  12 
Garrison,  William  Lloyd  14, 
56, 78, 80 

General  Vigilance  Commit- 
tee of  Philadelphia  61 
Georgia,  27 
Gibbs,  Georgianna  40 
Gibbs,  Jacob  R.  58 
Gilbert,  Theodosia  57 
Gordon  23 

Gracia  Real  de  Santa  Teresa 
de  Mose  81 
Green,  Lear  48 
Grimes,  Leonard  A.  58 

Haiti  73 

Harpers  Ferry  8, 9,  15, 58, 59 

Henson,  Josiah  70,  71 

Jackson,  George  38 
Jefferson,  Isaac  36, 37 
Johnson,  Eastman  7 

Kansas-Nebraska  Act  (1854) 
15 

Lawson,  John  H.  66 

Lee,  Robert  E.  58 

Liberator,  The  56 

Liberia  72-73 

Lincoln,  Abraham  75,  52, 64, 

75 

Loguen,  Jermain  W.  58, 67 

Massachusetts  30;  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  52 
Mbanza  35 
McHenry,  Jerry  66 
McKimm,  J.  Miller  54, 55 
Meyers,  Stephen  58 
Milton  House  Inn  6, 7 
Minkins,  Shadrach  8, 11 
Molineaux,  Tom  37 
Moran,  Thomas  48 
Mother  Bethel  A.M.E 
Church  77 
Mott,  Lucretia  80 
Mulberry  Plantation  76-77 

National  Historic  Landmarks 

79,80,81 

National  Park  System 

Advisory  Board  79 


86 


National  Register  of  Historic 

Places  79 

Nelson  71.  73 

New  Bedford  66-67 

New  Hampshire  30 

New  England  Anti-Slavery 

Society  14.56 

New  Netherlands  (New 

York)  27. 30 

New  Orleans  21 

Newspapers  52. 57. 59, 67 

New  York  City  61 

New  York  Committee  of 

Vigilance  59.61 

North  Carolina  27 

North  Star  52. 53. 59 

North:  fugitive  slaves  7. 14; 

slave  population  30;  slavery 

ends  31 

Oberlin,  Ohio,  56-57,  59 

Occupations,  slave  31, 32-33, 

35.38 

Osbom,  Daniel  7 

O'Sullivan,  Timothy  43 

Parker,  John  P.  54,  58 
Penn,  William  30 

Pennsylvania  30;  Abolition 
Society  56 

Pennington,  J.W.C.  67. 73 
Philadelphia  14.54.66: 

Underground  Railroad  61 
Pinkney,  Jerry  1 9. 33 
Population:  free  blacks,  36, 
37;  slaves  19. 20, 21-22, 26, 27, 
30.35.37 
Price,  John  59 
Purvis,  Robert  54, 55 

Quakers  11, 12,27,47,59,83 

Randolph,  John  72 
Reed,  Enoch  66 
Religion  and  churches  10,  11. 
12,40.61-62.67.75,83 
Republican  Party  56 
Rhode  Island  30 
Richardson,  Lewis  68, 70 
Ride  for  Liberty — The  Fugi- 
tive Slaves,  The  4-5,  1 
Robinson,  Rowland  Thomas 
SO 

Robinson,  Thomas  80 
Rokeby  Museum  80 
Royal  African  Company  26- 
27,30 


Ruggles,David50,58,59 
Russell,  Emily  39 

St.  Augustine  14 

St.  John's  Episcopal  Church 

12 

Savannah  21 

Scott,  Dred  15 

Second  Confiscation  Act  15. 

64 

Siebert,  Wilbur  H.  11 
Slave  catchers  51,59, 62,  63- 
66 

Slaveholders  Directory  61 
Slave  Hunt  (painting)  48-49 
Slave  Market  in  Richmond^ 
Virginia  (painting)  41 
Slaverv^:  in  Africa.  22-23, 35- 
36;  institutionalized  31-33, 35; 
free  and  slave  states  map  37, 
New  World  origin  20-21. 22: 
outlawed  7. 14, 15. 48:  own- 
ers' rights  47, 51;  personal  ac- 
counts and  historians"  inter- 
pretations 82-85;  ships  21; 
timeline  14-15 

Slaves:  arrival  14,  19, 30;  cul- 
tural life.  J4,  35. 40-43:  family 
life  34-35. 39-40, 42,  43;  living 
conditions  23, 38, 76-77;  re- 
volts 14. 28-29:  sales  79,  26. 
30,39.40,41.  See  also  Fugi- 
tive slaves;  Occupations, 
slave:  Underground  Railroad 
Slave  trade  20-21, 23. 
Slaves,  fugitive.  See  Fugitive 
slaves 

Smith,  Gerrit  56, 57 
Smith,  James  Lindsey  50 
Smith,  Samuel  A.  52 
South  31-33, 35, 51 
South  Carolina  31 
Spain  20. 81 

State  Historic  Preservation 
Offices  (SHPO)  79 
Still,  William  8, 12. 54. 55, 58, 
61 

Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher  15, 
61,70,  7\ 

13th  Amendment  15 
miy,  Thomas  58 
Torrey,  Charles  Turner  63 
Treasurer  (ship)  26 
Truth,  Sojourner  51 
Tubman,  Harriet  14,  44,  45, 
47,61,75 


Turner,  Nat  14.25-29 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  15,  61 .  71 
Underground  Railroad: 

characterized  45-46;  duration 
75:  effect  of  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  (1 850)  63. 66;  escape 
routes  and  stations  12,48-49, 
52.54.58-62,85:  escapees' 
experiences  46-52  passim; 
facts  and  myths  7-8. 11.12. 
47:  memoirs  8;  operational 
methods  62-63:  origin  47; 
runaway  population  52. 54; 
post-Civil  War  activity  75; 
public  views  8, 45;  signifi- 
cance 62.  See  also  Fugitive 
slaves:  Tubman 
Underground  Railroad,  The 
(painting)  60 

Underground  Railroad,  The 
(book)  8. 54. 55 
Underground  Railroad  from 
Slavery  to  Freedom,  The 
(book) 11 

U.S.  Constitution  7. 15. 47, 51 
U.S.S.  Vermont  64-65 

Vigilance  committee  mem- 
bers, Philadelphia  54, 55 

Virginia  26, 47:  Abolition 
Society  56 

Walker,  Jonathan  63 
Ward,  Samuel  Ringgold  66, 
67.65 

Warner,  Daniel  Dashiel  72 
Washington,  George  47 
Washington,  D.C.  15.58 
Webb  family  71 
Webber,  Charles  T.  61 
Wedding,  slave  42, 43 
White,  Jacob  Jr.  54. 55 
Williams,  Jack  81 
Williamson,  Passmore  54, 55 
Wilson,  Hiram  58 


This  handbook  may  be  pur- 
chased by  mail  from  the 
Superintendent  of  Docu- 
ments, U.S.  Government 
Printing  Office,  Washing- 
ton, D.C  20402-9325. 


<rGPO:1997^17-646/60001    Pnnted  on  recycled  paper. 


87 


National  Park  Service 


Picture  Sources 

Most  photographs  and  illustrations  credited  below  are  restricted 
against  commercial  reproduction.  Abbreviations:  LC— Library  of 
Congress:  NA— National  Archives:  NPS— National  Park  Service; 
NYHS— New- York  Historical  Society:  SCRBC— Schomburg 
Center  for  Research  in  Black  Culture.  New  York  Public  Library. 

Front  cover  ©Jerry  Pinkney:  inside  front  cover  SCRBC:  2-3  Mark 
N.  Mueller.  M.D.:  4-5  Brooklyn  Museum  of  Art;  6  Addison 
Thompson:  9  Dave  Gilbert;  10  Joanne  Devereaux;  11  Free  Library 
of  Philadelphia;  13  Mae  Scanlan;  14  branding  SCRBC,  Constitu- 
tion N A,'' Boston  Massacre^'  Boston  Athenaeum,  Douglass  J.R. 
Eyerman.  Life  Magazine  ©  Time,  Inc.;  Tubman  LC;  15  book  ad 
NYHS.  soldiers  LC;  15  John  Brown,  Lincoln  LC,  Dred  Scott  Mis- 
souri Historical  Society;  16-17  ©Jerry  Pinkney;  18, 19  Stratford 
Historical  Society;  20-21  map  NPS;  20  bust  Metropolitan  Museum 
of  Art:  21  slave  Musee  de  VHomme;  ship  Mariners'  Museum. 
Newport  News.  Va.;  22  branding  SCRBC.  bell  harness,  brand  NPS; 
23  slave  NA;  24  Equiano  Bridgeman  Art  Library.  London;  24  hud- 
dled bovs  Mansell.Time.  Inc.:  25  Library  Company  of  Philadel- 
phia; 28-29  Turner  Stock  Montage;  28  "  Tragical  Scene  "  Virginia 
Historical  Society;  29  Amistad,  Cinque  New  Haven  Colony  His- 
torical Society;  3i  porter  tag  American  Numismatics  Society,  other 
tags  Charleston  Museum.  S.C;  32-33  painting  ©Jerry  Pinkney;  32 
nursemaid  Louisiana  State  Museum  Jield  hands  Corbis- 
Bettmann;  34  slave  quarters  Lightfoot  Collection,  burial  Histonc 
New  Orleans  Collection;  35  Blue  Ridge  Institute  and  Museums; 
36-37  map  NPS;  36  almanac  Maryland  Historical  Society,  Isaac 
Jefferson  University  of  Virginia;  37  Molineux  National  Portrait 
Gallery,  fflg  American  Numismatics  Society,  woman  George  East- 
man House: 40  SCRBC:41  Heinz  Family  Office: 42 /m72/7v'  LC, 
wedding  North  Carolina  Museum  of  Art;  44  LC;  46. 47  SCRBC; 
48-49  ''Slave  Himr  Philbrook  Museum  of  Art:  48  "$150  Reward'' 
LC;49  Henrv  Brown  Granger  Collection.  A??fl/7  NPS:  50  map  NPS: 
51  American  Antiquarian  Society:  53  Douglass  J.R.  Eyerman,  Life 
Magazine  ©  Time.  Inc.,  "North  Star"  SCRBC:  55  portraits  SCR- 
BC Jitle  page  NPS: 56-57  rescuers  Oberlin  College; 56  "No  Union" 
SCRBC:  57  convention  Madison  County  Historical  Society,  NY. 
••  The  Liberator, "  "Anti-Slave-Catchers  "  SCRBC:  58  LC:  59  NPS: 
60  Cincinnati  Art  Museum:  62  SCRBC;  63  Massachusetts  Histori- 
cal Society:  64-65  contrabands  NYHS:65  soldiers  Chicago  Histori- 
cal Society.  "Colored  Soldiers!"  NPS:  66  NA:  67  Larr>'  Sherer 
©Time.  Inc.;  68  SCRBC;  69  Elgin  Archives  of  Ontario.  "Stock- 
holders "  SCRBC:  70  Stowe.  Henson  SCRBC.  ad  N YHS:  7 1  Harri- 
et Beecher  Stowe  Center:  72  Monrovia  LC, portrait  Historical 
Society  of  Pennsvlvania:  74  NA:  76-77  Gibbes  Museum  of  Art:  78 
Society  for  the  Preservation  of  New  England  Antiquities:  80 
Rokebv  Museum.  Vt.:  81  Florida  Museum  of  Natural  Histor>'; 
back  cover  Milton  House  Addison  Thompson,  tag  American 
Numismatics  Society:  Douglass  J.R.  Eyerman.  Life  Magazine  © 
Time,  Inc..  Tubman  LC. 


U.S.  Department  of  the  Interior 


The  mission  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior  is  to  protect  and 
provide  access  to  our  Nation's  natural  and  cultural  heritage  and 
to  honor  our  trust  responsibilities  to  tribes.  The  National  Park 
Service  preserves  unimpaired  the  natural  and  cultural  resources 
and  values  of  the  National  Park  System  for  the  enjoyment,  edu- 
cation, and  inspiration  of  this  and  future  generations.  The 
National  Park  Service  cooperates  with  partners  to  extend  the 
benefits  of  natural  and  cultural  resource  conservation  and  out- 
door recreation  throughout  this  country  and  the  world. 


Acknowledgments 

The  National  Park  Service  is  indebted  to  all  those  persons  who 
made  this  handbook  possible.  Among  those  who  aided  the  real- 
ization of  this  book  are  Sharon  Brown,  Warren  Brown,  Vincent 
deForest,  and  Barbara  Tagger,  who  served  both  as  National  Park 
Service  liaisons  to  the  Underground  Railroad  Commission  and  as 
members  of  the  study  team.  Without  their  vision  and  cooperation 
this  handbook  would  not  be  in  print  today.  Invaluable  assistance 
was  provided  by  Marie  Tyler-McGraw  of  the  National  Park  Ser- 
vice, Division  of  History.  Within  the  Division  of  Publications,  staff 
members  who  contributed  to  the  book  were:  Susan  Barkus,  pro- 
duction designer;  Melissa  Cronyn,  art  director;  Robert  Grogg, 
editor;  Nancy  Morbeck  Haack,  cartographer;  Jane  Hanna,  editor; 
and  Linda  Meyers,  production  manager.  The  contributing  authors 
are  Larry  Gara,  professor  emeritus,  Wilmington  College,  Wilm- 
ington, Ohio;  C.  Peter  Ripley,  professor  of  history  and  editor  of 
the  Black  Abolitionist  Papers,  Florida.  State  University,  Tallahas- 
see, Florida;  and  Brenda  Stevenson,  professor  of  history.  Univer- 
sity of  California  at  Los  Angeles.  Research  was  contributed  by 
Owen  Thomas,  Hamilton,  Ontario.  Reviews  and  advice  at  critical 
junctures  were  provided  by  Professor  James  Horton,  George 
Washington  University,  Washington,  D.C,  and  Professor  David 
Blight,  Amherst  College,  Amherst,  Massachusetts.  The  handbook 
was  designed  by  Kirilloff  Design,  Frederick,  Md.,  assisted  by  G. 
Bruce  Hopkins,  editor,  with  picture  research  by  Linda  Sykes. 


Library  of  Congress  Cataloging-in-Publication  Data 

Underground  railroad  /  produced  by  the  Division  of  Publica- 
tions, National  Park  Service.         p.     cm.— (Handbook;  156). 
Includes  essays  by  Larry  Gara,  Brenda  E.  Stevenson,  and  C. 
Peter  Ripley.  Includes  bibliographical  references  and  index. 
Supt.  of  Docs.  No.:  I  29.9/5:156  ISBN  0-912627-64-6 

1.  Underground  railroad.  2.  Slavery— United  States— History 
3.  Fugitive  slaves— United  States— History  4.  Historic  sites- 
United  States.  I  United  States.  National  Park  Service.  Division  of 
Publications.  II.  Series:  Handbook  (United  States.  National  Park 
Service.  Division  of  Publications);  156 
E450.U59   1998 
9  73.ril5-DC21  97-52753  CIP 


Underground 
Railroad 


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7%e  Underground  Railroad  is  the  name 
given  to  the  many  ways  that  blacks  took 
to  escape  slavery  in  the  southern  United 

>  States  before  the  Civil  Wan  This  book 
tells  that  story  through  essays  by  histor- 
ians Larry  Gara,  Brenda  E,  Stevenson, 
and  C.  Peter  Ripley.  The  book  is  a  trea- 

y  sure  trove  of  historic  photographs  m^ 
illustrations,  ^ 


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